A Family Of Eight Forced To Live In A One-Bed Council Flat

A family of eight, including seven children all under the age of 16, have been forced to live in a cramped one-bed council flat.

Cheryl Shaw and her six children have been living in the mould and damp-ridden property in Oldham, Greater Manchester, since last year. The property was originally given to her when she was pregnant with her youngest child, Laila, who’s now two years old.

It was intended for just them, but due to circumstances beyond her control, last year Cheryl had to take in her other six children.

A newspaper outlet reported that each morning, Cheryl Shaw wakes up and clears her living room floor of the makeshift bed that she and three of her children are forced to sleep on so they can use the little space there is to play.

Behind the sofa is used as storage space for clothes because there’s nowhere else for it to go, and despite lodging multiple complaints about the cramped and mouldy conditions, Cheryl said that she’s never had anybody come out to see the flat.

Now Cheryl is at breaking point, fearing for the safety of her children and has been pleading with Oldham Council for more space.

Cheryl claims both she and her social worker have begged Oldham Council and First Choice Homes (FCHO), who manage the property, for more suitable accommodation, but their pleas have been denied.

She said that she’s trying to fight and that she’s doing everything everybody asks of her, but that her children can’t sleep properly and the situation is awful.

Then the council told the M.E.N that no five-bed socially rented properties have been available in the area since July 2021. Cheryl claims she’s been advised to move further out of Manchester for a better chance of successfully bidding on a bigger flat, but that would mean she would have to upheaval her children’s schooling because they would have to change schools, and would interrupt their education.

She also feels that moving away from her family and support network would be setting her up to fail.

She said that even if they gave her a three-bedroom she could make it work and that she just wants them to give her a property suitable for her and her children.

This mother is presently paying £389 per month for a mouldy property which is rented out to her by her council. They have a duty of care to put the property right, and if they can’t do this, then they should be rehousing her. They are refusing to do anything and therefore have failed their duty of care.

Cheryl continued that the children have always got coughs and colds and that the dampness worries her. That it’s just horrible and that she has to have clothes around the back of her settee because she doesn’t have anywhere else to put them, and that First Choice Homes knows all about the mould.

A social landlord is a housing association or council that provides social housing in the United Kingdom. They have a duty to keep the property in a good state of repair as well as an ongoing responsibility for the tenant’s welfare.

The Defective Premises Act 1972 says that your landlord owes you a certain duty of care that is set out in this Act. They include a duty to prevent personal injury or damage to the property caused by defects in your home. This duty is owed to anyone, members of your family, and also visitors to your home.

As a landlord, they must keep your rented property safe and free from health hazards.

So, what is considered an uninhabitable living situation for a tenant in the United Kingdom? A property is unfit for human occupancy if living there could cause you or anyone else in your household serious harm, for example, issues with dampness.

It’s true, we do have a serious problem with overcrowding, due to there being not enough housing stock and this isn’t just in Greater Manchester, it’s going on all over the country.

This problem is getting absurd, but councils are happy enough to have hotels closed down for illegals coming into the United Kingdom, but not our own who were born and bred here, and the situation is appalling.

Building more homes appears to be a concern as well because there are not enough places to build them and so they’re being built on every piece of green land we have, so the United Kingdom is becoming a concrete jungle.

Prefab housing was a wonderful idea after World War II. It would allow many British people the housing that they needed, and they could be built to house however big the family was, but again we have to have the space to put them.

There are numerous golf courses that we probably don’t need. It’s excellent for the golfers but needs must, and prefabs would fit perfectly on this land, and it’s the perfect solution for the British people, so Sir Keir Starmer, if you want to do something productive for the British people who are in this dire situation, please bring this matter up in the House of Commons because we have numerous people who are in dire need of housing, right now!