Beverly Simms, 61 and her 24-year-old daughter Shanika Francis from North London, have been living in a council house with mould problems and have said that the council are “waiting for them to die” due to their lack of action to resolve the situation. The mother and daughter moved into their council flat in Kentish Town in October 2021, which they believed didn’t seem to have any issues and was “painted up”.
However, a few months later, they started to see mould in the bathroom which they reported to the council in January 2022 as the issue kept on getting worse. The mould had spread to the kitchen by April and then to bedrooms before someone from the council came over to their flat.
As Beverley spoke to MyLondon, she provided images showing black mould all over their ceiling, around windows and in their shoes. The 61-year-old and her daughter also realised that the floor started to feel wet and believed they were experiencing some damp. Despite the visit from the council, Beverly still states that nothing has been done and that the mould keeps on growing, to the point of ending up on her toothbrush, resulting in her having mould on her tongue and spreading to the settee they sleep on.
She has also reported symptoms such as dizziness, vomiting and headaches which she feels have been caused by the excessive mould in her flat.
Although being offered another property, the mother and daughter claim their requests of repairing the new flat are being refused by the council, as they also felt it would be a downgrade to move to the offered property due to the sizes of the bedrooms being significantly smaller in the new property. Due to having these mould problems, Beverly and her daughter also believe they’re entitled to be compensated as their personal belongings have also been damaged.
Camden Council’s spokesperson has declared that getting Beverly and Shenika to their new property is their focus, and that addressing their issue has been “complicated” due to them not being the building’s free holder, but only the lease holder of their flat. They stated, “We are here to help Ms Simms and her daughter. Our focus right now is helping the family move to another home permanently as soon as possible. We have found a new home, decorated it and are offering to provide basic furniture, so that when the home is ready, the family will be able to move in straight away.”
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