A distressed mother is calling for effective action to be taken over her damp flat which has slugs in the kitchen and ants in the bathroom.

Samantha Carr, and her two and-a-half-year-old son moved into the flat in Morden Close, Tadworth, last June, from Epsom Downs, because they needed a bigger home.

But, Miss Carr said they have been plagued by damp and unhygienic conditions for the past 10 months.

She said dampness at the flat, owned by social housing provider Raven Housing Trust, first appeared last August owing to a leak in the bathroom, which was subsequently fixed - but no long-term solution has been found.

The 25-year-old said: "I found ants’ nests underneath the bath, where it was really damp, three weeks ago.

"The wall in my son’s bedroom is completely mouldy and damp and there has been a smell of urine in the flat for the last two months.

"The kitchen has had slugs in it on and off since I moved in. They are on the kitchen surfaces first thing in the morning because they come out at night. It’s disgusting.

"Raven Housing should not allow a young boy to live in these conditions. Since being here, my son’s had more coughs and colds than he has ever had, and I have asthma myself."

Miss Carr said Raven Housing Trust visited her in January and told her the dampness was caused by condensation.

It gave her a de-humidifier but Raven Housing later removed it as she felt it was too expensive to operate and instead gave her £50 compensation.

The week before last Miss Carr was told the cause may be a leak in the toilet cisterns so that any individual in the building flushing their toilet would cause water to leak through below.

During another visit paid by Raven Housing Trust to the flat last Thursday condensation was again identified as the issue - which Miss Carr said she no longer has the means to fix.

She said: "My de-humidifier was removed in January. I’m just not getting anywhere.

"I’m a single parent and I can’t deal with it anymore, it’s getting on top of me. If moving me would be the easiest and quickest option I would do that, but I don’t want to have to move."

Contacted by the Epsom Guardian a spokesman for Raven said: "The home does need effective ventilation and we are replacing the ventilation system - we have already arranged for our contractor to visit on Wednesday, May 16, to install it.

"This system is very low cost, improves air quality by filtering out pollutants and is particularly suited to basements and other low-level areas."

She blamed part of the problem on Ms Carr turning off the flats ventilation system and not using extractor fans.

And she said ant infestations are not uncommon, slugs are attracted by the humidity, and the smell of urine is most probably related to the damp - although it awaiting a report on this following last week's inspection.

The spokesman said: "Raven has a vigorous damp procedure, which we have followed. Where damp is caused by too much condensation resulting from a resident’s lifestyle, we try to resolve damp issues by working together with the resident. We have been in continuous contact with Ms Carr since January."