A YEADON mother of two claims damp in an upstairs bedroom is forcing her family to sleep in their living room.

And now environmental health officers from Leeds City Council are investigating whether or not the situation is making 26-year-old Evelyn Turner and her two children, Gemma, aged eight, and four-week-old Charlotte, ill.

"Both Gemma and myself have asthma and Charlotte has been full of cold since she came out of hospital," said Ms Turner.

"I have had one letter from my doctor saying the damp is making our asthma worse but the council won't accept it is damp.

"They say it is just condensation and have told me to keep the windows open all day and to put the heating on all night.

"But I am on social security and I can't afford to keep the heating on. Besides, it makes it harder to breath when when it is on," added Ms Turner.

"A pair of boots I had went mouldy in a week but when I complained the council just told me not to use the wardrobe," she added.

Ms Turner has lived in Henshaw Avenue for two years and has been on the transfer list for a house in Guiseley since finding out she was pregnant again ten months ago.

"When they offered me a house on the Henshaw estate I had to take it, otherwise they wouldn't have given me anything else.

"My partner lives in Guiseley with his mother, because he won't come and live here.

"Since I have been here, I have had most of the windows in the house broken and been burgled," she added.

"The environmental health department have now said they will come out this week and look at the bedroom to see if it is making me and the children ill," said Ms Turner.

A council spokesman said: "Evelyn has been seen by a medical rehousing visitor, who was unable to support her claims for urgent rehousing on medical grounds.

"A surveyor has visited her house and found no evidence of damp and the house has recently been fitted with a damp course," he added.

The spokesman said there was some condensation in the house, which was typical of properties or that age, and he said it could easily be dealt with by a combination of ventilation and heating.

He added: "She may be eligible for some assistance from the DSS in paying for her fuel bills if this is a concern."

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