DAMP conditions in a housing association flat are being blamed, by a Bordon father, for the hospitalisation of his two-year-old daughter with pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

Leah had her second birthday on Saturday in Southampton General Hospital, where she has spent the past four weeks and was due to have an operation for a collapsed lung on Tuesday. Her mother, Claire Taylor, has been by her side since she was first admitted, five weeks ago, to the Royal Surrey County Hospital, in Guildford.

When her daughter was transferred to the Southampton hospital she was given a bed so she could sleep beside her.

The couple’s other child, Kieran, who will be five this month, because of the conditions in the Savile Crescent flat, “can no longer live here and now lives with his gran”, alleged father Glyn Taylor.

Mr Taylor added: “When Leah comes out of hospital she won’t be allowed to come back here but we haven’t got anywhere else to take her.”

Mr Taylor himself is disabled due to a degenerative back condition - Claire, he says, is his full-time carer - and so can not do any work to try to halt “the creeping mould” as he calls it.

His parents, moved into the newly built flat in 2005, and he moved in with them in 2008 after his marriage broke down. “The flat was fine then and, sadly, after my mother died and my father went into sheltered accommodation, Radian, the housing association, told me I could take over the tenancy but, unlike its other tenants, it was not going to give me any money for repairs.”

But Radian did install a new boiler and pipes after a flood in the flat recently.

But, said Mr Taylor, the pipes continued to leak in the kitchen and bathroom, which caused water to collect under the bathroom floor. This, he feels, has caused the damp and mould and, although the pipes have now been fixed, he said the conditions have not changed.

“The water is still under the floorboards,” he said. “I converted the bathroom into a walk-in shower room and that is now covered in mould. Mould is in the airing and storage cupboards and along the skirting boards. We have had to throw clothes away covered in mould.

“Also they (Radian) only let us have a humidifier for two weeks to dry out the flat but it wasn’t long enough.”

Radian has given the Taylors £50 to help with repairs and £28 toward their electric bill, as the couple try to keep the place warm for the children.

But Mr Taylor alleged that all the housing association had done, in getting rid of the mould, was “to remove the panels covered in it (mould) and dry them out and put up new panels, but they won’t do any decorating”.

The couple put their troubles aside on Saturday to give Leah “a very special” birthday at the hospital, with a cake and presents and cards.

“I can’t thank both hospitals enough for the wonderful care they have taken of Leah,” said Mr Taylor

“Also, at Guildford they gave my wife accommodation in Ronald McDonald house so she could be near the hospital and now she has a pull-out bed at Southampton.”

A Radian spokesman said: “Mr Taylor reported an issue with damp in his property. Our inspection concluded that this was due to a previous leak which had been repaired.

“To accelerate the drying process, we supplied a dehumidifier and paid for the electricity this would require. We have revisited the property and found that, although the humidifier has improved the situation, there are still some isolated spots of moisture in the walls. Additionally, Mr Taylor has identified some other issues that require repair. We are working with Mr Taylor to find alternative temporary accommodation for his family while the work is completed.”