Ealing mum and 3 kids stuck in ‘too small’ house covered in mold and damp

A mother, her partner and three children were left in a flat full of mold and damp for almost three years, a report by the Housing Ombudsman has found. Ealing Council placed the family in a private flat in October 2021 after determining it owed Miss X a duty to accommodate them.

A few weeks after moving in, Miss X complained of a leak in her children’s bedroom. After an investigation, it was discovered that the leak was coming from the flat above, at which point the mother made a complaint to the council.

She told the board about the leaks and explained that the two-bedroom apartment was too small for five people to live in. The council reported the repair issues to her landlord and advised her on housing options.

READ MORE: “Ealing council evicted me weeks after I was stabbed – now I’m sleeping in parks and fearing another attack”

In December, Miss X told the council that her children’s health was being adversely affected by the condition of the property. The council told Miss X to complete a medical form.

A month later, the mother was advised that the damp and damage to her home should be repaired as soon as possible, but there was insufficient reason to give her medical priority for a new property.

During this period, Miss X also reported mold in her living room, bedrooms and bathroom. While the leak in her child’s room was initially fixed in December, it started leaking again in March and she was told not to use the electricity until it was fixed a second time in early April.

During this time there was a persistent mold problem which the council told Miss X could remove with a dehumidifier, extractor fans and cleaning and wall treatment. In June, Miss X put on a new medical form. The council’s medical adviser considered this and found that dampness on the property could impact on the health of Miss X and her family.

He recommended that the repairs be completed as soon as possible and that an Environmental Services report be requested. Despite months of communication between the landlord, tenants and the council, mold continued to persist in the flat, with the Ombudsman reporting that as of January 2024, Miss X was still experiencing problems.

Leaks from the children’s bedroom also reappeared twice. The ombudsman notes that over the year the council has taken steps to try to improve the situation, including offering to install fans to help with the mold and providing emergency shelter while surveys and repair work take place.

Those offers were declined by the family, although an explanation as to why was not included in the report. The ombudsman concluded in the report: “The council needs to consider the question of the suitability of temporary accommodation. Miss X told the council her concerns about ongoing leaks at her home and that mold and damp in the property were having a negative impact on health. she and her family.

“This amounts to a change in circumstances and the council should have carried out a suitability assessment under section 202. I have seen no evidence that it did so. This is a mistake.

“We have also seen no evidence that the council told Miss X that she could apply for a suitability review under section 202, even though she had raised concerns about the suitability of the property. This is the fault.

“I am aware that the council offered Miss X a move to emergency accommodation, which she did not take up. While it is reassuring that the council made Miss X such an offer, it does not mitigate the injustice of the fault we have found.’

As a result, the Ombudsman ordered Ealing Council to:

• carry out a section 202 suitability assessment to find out whether Miss X’s accommodation is suitable for her and her family. If the assessment finds that Miss X’s accommodation is unsuitable, she should pay her £150 for each month she and her family have been deprived of suitable accommodation and for each subsequent month she remains in her temporary accommodation current.
• Within four weeks of the final decision, the Council will obtain a report from its environmental services on the condition of Miss X’s temporary accommodation. It will also send Miss X a written apology for the error found by the Ombudsman.

The board agreed to take the above action, according to the report.

The Council’s response

A spokesman for Ealing Council said: “Keeping tenants safe in their homes is a top priority for us. We take all complaints seriously and are sorry that this tenant was not provided with the standard of service they should expect.

“Notifications to the ombudsman represent the final stage of the complaints process for social owners. We have recently updated our complaints handling process to ensure that residents who have raised concerns are dealt with promptly and fairly.

“This case concerns a household who presented us with a risk of homelessness and were placed in privately rented accommodation as temporary accommodation.

“We have made good progress on the actions agreed with the ombudsman. Our review team is considering a Section 202 statutory suitability assessment and we have commissioned and received an environmental report on the property in question. The need for some work on the property was noted, about which I informed the owner. We will do everything in our power to ensure that the owner brings the property in question to the standard we expect. In the meantime, we are offering the family alternative temporary accommodation.”

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