A mother recoiled in horror when she was offered a council house filled with graffiti, broken appliances and filth.
Mother-of-two Dannii Canning was left horrified when she was visited the three-bed home for a viewing and fell straight through the floorboards.
There were also holes in the walls, swear words including ‘t**t’ and ‘f**k’ sprayed in black on the walls and exposed wires draping across the floor.
Dannii, 26, also found multiple kitchen cabinets missing and the back door glass cracked, as well as a dirty bathroom with no flooring.
Kitchen nightmare: The grotty cooking area looks barely habitable due to its astonishingly grubby and damaged condition
Wallpaper that was draped over the fireplace has been torn and left exposed
The mother of autistic son Hunter, six, and Sienna, four, had applied in April for new accommodation as she needs more space to care for her son effectively.
After being offered a viewing at the property in Northfield, Birmingham, on October 10 she was hopeful she was about to find her dream home.
Instead, the ‘horrible’ house was completely unsuitable and left her worried she had lost one of her permitted ‘bids’ on council property.
Graffiti and swearwords are daubed across the walls inside the council house. The ‘horrible’ house is completely unsuitable for Ms Canning’s autistic son, she says
A huge gaping hole in the rood greeted Ms Canning when she went to inspect the property in Northfield, Birmingham
Dannii, a full time carer for her son, said: ‘I was fifth on the council’s list when I was offered the viewing so I was pleased to get there. Now I know why I was able to get one.
‘I went to see it expecting to have to do some work to it, but I did not expect to fall through the floor boards.
‘If my sister had not been there to catch me I would have been flat on my face.
‘There was an exposed electrical box and metre that would be a real danger to my son. He would not think twice about playing with something like that.
‘Even the council worker who showed is around was shocked by the state of everything. It was the first time he had been there himself and told us several times we should not have seen it in that state.
‘As soon as he saw the swearing on the walls he told us to wait downstairs while he checked to make sure upstairs was ok.
The derelict kitchen is missing large sections of wallpaper which has been torn off and is covered in filth
‘The kitchen had a sink and one or two cupboards. That was it. The rest of the rooms were horrible, the garden was overgrown with brambles and there were holes in the ceilings.
‘I’ve never seen anything that bad before. It was like a house of horrors.’
When Dannii moved into her previous property six years ago she had to do plenty of work to it.
She spent over £1,000 redecorating the interior and buying furnishings.
She claims when she asked the council worker what work the council was planning to do to the home, he was unable to confirm it, leaving her unable to move in.
However, she was stunned to be told her refusal would count as one of two she is allowed under Birmingham City Council’s policy.
Dannii maintains she needs a larger home to help look after her autistic son, who is currently forced to share a bed with his sister
The mum said: ‘I realise when you move into these places you have to do a bit of work.
‘I spent a lot of money doing up the place we live in now. When someone bids on this they will get to move somewhere nice.
‘I was expecting to have to paint all the walls and redo the floors. But this was beyond anything I had imagined. The place was disgusting.
‘The council could not tell me whether they were going to wire and redo the bathroom and the kitchen, which would be necessary to be able to live there.
‘So I had to turn it down. But then they counted my rejection as one of my two refusals when I was told it would not be.
‘I had to ring the council and get them to change it.’
Dannii maintains she needs a larger home to help look after her autistic son, who is currently forced to share a bed with his sister.
She said: ‘I have always known he had autism but he was officially diagnosed this year.
‘He needs his own space to relax when everything gets too much and he needs his routine.
‘Without it, he can have a breakdown and it gets quite difficult to deal with him.
‘I could not live in this house and give him a routine. It would make our lives tough and be completely unfair to him.
‘Not to mention the state it’s in, and how unlivable it is for dogs, let alone children.’
Birmingham City Council has been contacted for comment.