‘We pawned our engagement ring so we didn’t have to go home.’
A family in Oldham is struggling with severe housing conditions, including damp, mould, and structural issues, in their privately rented home. Despite complaints to the landlord and council, they have seen little action and face returning to the unsafe property after a temporary hotel stay. The situation has severely impacted their health and well-being, with the parents fearing for their children's safety and considering extreme measures due to the lack of viable alternatives.
Oldham Family Forced From Hotel Back to Squalid Home as Landlord Refuses Help
David Harvey’s face crumpled as his phone buzzed inside a Shaw café, the news he’d been dreading finally arriving. “They’re throwing us out,” the 35-year-old father told his pregnant girlfriend Lianne, stepson Cody and two-year-old Elliot, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I can’t go back there.”
The family’s two-week reprieve at a council-arranged hotel ended abruptly when their private landlord declined to continue paying for the accommodation, leaving them no choice but to return to their £600-per-month two-bedroom house on Shaw’s Richmond Street—a property where damp seeps through every room, radiators leak, and a gaping hole in David’s bedroom wall exposes them directly to the elements.
Lianne, 24 weeks pregnant with her first daughter, has watched her health deteriorate alongside the crumbling property. “Since I’ve been out of the house, I’ve stopped having coughing fits,” she explained, describing how black mould coating their bedroom walls triggers violent coughing that makes her vomit. During her previous pregnancy with Elliot, the constant coughing caused a hernia requiring surgery. “I’m not having another baby in that,” she declared firmly.
David’s battle with the property began in 2017, escalating after meeting Lianne through his mental health volunteering position. Despite spending approximately £7,000 of his own money replacing mould-destroyed furniture, installing a £500 kitchen, and attempting repairs, conditions have worsened. The couple, who cannot afford market rents that have soared across Oldham, face a cruel Catch-22: leaving voluntarily classifies them as intentionally homeless, disqualifying them from social housing assistance.
The property’s dangers extend beyond mould and damp. An old gas fireplace remains covered only by perforated metal sheeting, while a hole in the children’s bedroom ceiling has been merely wallpapered over. David’s PTSD diagnosis has complicated his mental health treatment—an NHS auxiliary group recently determined his housing situation too unstable for therapy, writing: “Once you are in a more stable housing situation, you are always welcome to refer to our services in the future.”
Oldham Council’s Environmental Health inspection deemed the property safe under national housing guidelines, though Deputy Leader Councillor Elaine Taylor confirmed the authority had organized the family’s temporary hotel respite. “We sympathize with any family who find themselves in a difficult housing situation,” Taylor stated, adding that Housing Options teams would continue providing advice and potential homelessness assessments.
With their belongings in storage to prevent mould contamination and desperate for one more night of safety, David and Lianne pawned their engagement rings to extend the hotel stay. “We just want the kids to be safe for one more night,” David messaged, his voice carrying the weight of a father who sees no way out. “I don’t know a way out. At the end of the day, I’m just trying to protect my family.”
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