Raphaela Lim– a mother of a 2-year-old girl – had to swap bedrooms with her daughter due to fears that the damp and mould would damage her toddler’s health. This was after Haringey’s Council’s housing service didn’t deal with the situation despite being told about it years earlier. The matter came to light shortly after an investigation by the Housing Ombudsman in Haringey Council took place due to the “persistent poor performance over damp and mould complaints.” Since then, the authority has apologised and promised to fix the problem.
Raphaela moved to the property in 2017 and says that there was no evidence of mould or damp. However, around a year later she started to notice wet patches which began to develop across all the outer walls of the flat, This Is Local London reports. In December 2019, Raphaela reported the matter to the housing service for the first time, which had been outsourced to a council-owned company named Homes for Haringey.
However, now all the rooms have been affected by damp and mould, with one particular wall being “completely damp,” causing the paint and plaster to flake off. She said, “One room in particular is really bad. The whole wall is completely wet, and we keep the window open so we can keep the mould under control – which is not ideal from a heating or energy conservation point of view.” According to Raphaela, through a surveyor’s assessment, the building needed repointing – which involves the old mortar being chipped out from between the brickwork and replacing it. She added, “It is ridiculous. They know what they need to do. It is all listed out by a surveyor what the job entails; so as far as we can see they just need to tender it.” She also added that people have been experiencing the same issue and there are problems in the building’s stairwell.
In 2015, window frames were replaced which had begun to leak and could be a contributing factor to the damp and mould. The council’s cabinet member for housing services, private renters, and planning, Cllr Dana Carlin, expressed her disappointment upon learning that the family had been residing in such poor living conditions . She said “I am dismayed to hear the family have been living in these conditions and that the issues have not been resolved sooner. We brought Homes for Haringey in-house in June 2022 and are fully committed to significant improvements in our housing services. We know we must get this right as soon as possible and will be spending almost £5 million on our far-reaching housing improvement plan to ensure council homes are well-maintained.”
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