A Ramsbottom dad says he feels 'trapped' living in a church schoolhouse covered in black mould.
Mark Swarbrick has been living in the schoolhouse on the grounds of St John in the Wilderness in Shuttleworth for almost 17 years with his wife and six of his children.
The dad-of-nine claims the house has always been damp, but that the problem has grown worse over the last two years.
Photos show the property covered in black mould, and 49-year-old Mark said the house is also extremely humid and has holes in the roof.
The mould inside the schoolhouse (Image: Mark Swarbrick)
He claims his daughter's foot fell through some dry rot in the kitchen floor recently while she was making a cup of tea.
On top of this, Mark claims they have been without hot water for around three weeks and that they have to wear their coats indoors for warmth and go to his son's house for baths.
He is growing increasingly concerned about the mould and damp ahead of the winter months.
He claims he has reported the issues to his landlord, the Reverend Ian Fleming, Team Rector of Ramsbottom and Edenfield Team Ministry, multiple times.
He said someone came to look at the damp last year but nothing was done following the visit.
The reverend said his team are "actively working on a list of improvements to the building".
Mark also said he went to Bury Council's environmental health team about the situation a few months ago and is now in touch with them about the problems.
The mould inside the schoolhouse (Image: Mark Swarbrick)
As a family of eight with three dogs, he said it is difficult to find anywhere to rent in the area within their budget and with house prices so high, it is even harder to find somewhere to buy.
Mark said: "If I go upstairs now and wipe my hand across our bedroom wall, it would be soaking.
"We use mould and mildew bleach sort of like Dettol spray and it's quite effective, but it just lasts us a matter of a few weeks and then it starts to come back.
"Who cleans their ceilings? It's not a normal thing for people to do. It's bound to come back.
"At the moment I'm sitting in the living room with my coat on, and my kids will come home and they'll have their coats on.
"We have to boil water to do the pots and they'll have to go to my son's house to have a bath.
"We feel like we're against a wall.
"It is really worrying for me as a parent. The girls can't have their friends around because it's too embarrassing.
"It's embarrassing to send pictures because people are thinking, 'just clean it'.
"But they don't realise you'll clean it and it'll be back, and how much of your life do you need to spend cleaning when you're trying to work more to be able to get a deposit for a house?"
Mark also said he has been diagnosed with pulmonary sarcoidosis.
According to the NHS, this is a rare condition that causes patches of swollen tissue to develop in organs and often affects the lungs and lymph nodes.
The NHS states the exact cause of sarcoidosis is unknown, but lists exposure to mould, wood stoves, soil, tree pollen, insecticides, silica as some of the potential causes in addition to viral or bacterial infections, genetics, and autoimmunity.
Mark said: "I don't know if [the mould and damp] contributed to that.
"Breathing in mould continuously can't be good for anybody."
The mould inside the schoolhouse (Image: Mark Swarbrick)
In addition, Mark claims he has been informed that the church is looking to sell the house in the future, but is worried about where he and his family will go once they are given an eviction notice.
Mark, who works as an engineer, has been taking on lots of overtime at work to try and save money for a house deposit, but is struggling to find somewhere else to live.
He added: "We feel really trapped because we can't get something private, we can't find something cheap enough to buy.
"While this is going on, I'm trying to work as much as I can to try and get some money to get us out of the unsettling financial situation we were in, to try and get into a positive state to be able to buy a house.
"Since then, this was over a year, we've saved quite a lot of money to get a house, buy a house possibly, but the house market's gone up by like £30,000 in the particular bracket we were looking at.
"So it seems like we've got ourselves in a better footing, but things are getting farther awa,y and with us having such a large family, we've got eight of us, three dogs.
"Private renting is quite negative towards us, so that's why we were leaning towards buying a house, but it is difficult.
"We don't want to be living in mould. That's the top and bottom of it. Like I say, we feel trapped because we don't see a solution to be honest."
The mould inside the schoolhouse (Image: Mark Swarbrick)
The Reverend Ian Fleming, who was appointed as the Rector 18 months ago, was contacted for comment and said he is committed to working with Mark to fix the issues.
He said he has offered to assist the family in finding alternative accommodation and financial assistance.
"Since becoming aware of the recent concerns with the state of the property raised by Mark, I and the other members of Parochial Church Council (PCC) have been actively working on a list of improvements to the building," he said.
"We've been in regular contact with both Mark and environmental health to better understand the issues and put a plan in place to resolve them.
"The Environmental Health team has confirmed they are satisfied with the progress so far, and a contractor is scheduled to be on site within the next couple of days to resolve the issues with the roof.
"Other issues, such as a lack of hot water, have not been raised with us to date, so will be acted upon immediately.
"As a PCC, we fully appreciate the gravity of this situation and have offered support to find alternative accommodation, including an offer of financial assistance. Our first concern has always been for Mark and his family and we will do all we can to ensure the house is habitable.
"We are committed to understanding the root causes of these problems and ensuring they are fully resolved. Every concern is taken seriously, and we will continue to work closely with the family and relevant authorities to bring the situation to the best conclusion for the family."
The Bury Times previously reported in August that work was taking place to improve the graveyard at the church after the state of it left a mother and son upset when they came to pay their respects to a loved one.
The Reverend Ian Fleming said he was sorry to hear the two had seen the churchyard as it was and explained that warm weather caused the vegetation to quickly grow and get out of control.
He assured that he and the churchwardens had visited the site and started to clear it, in addition to exploring better ways to manage it in the future.
The church closed in 2017 because they were unable to afford the £250,000 needed for vital repairs, and that the congregation had dwindled to just 15.