A mother living on a Camberwell estate is worried for the health of her twin babies, due to the failure of the council to fix a communal leak, that she says has caused dampness, mould and even biting bugs.
Venetia and her husband, Nikos, who live on the Allport Estate in Denmark Hill, said they first raised the issue of a leak coming from above that affects their whole block in December 2021.
“Every time it rains, water pours down in the toilet for well over a year now,” she said.
“We also have mould constantly growing in the bathroom. Despite the issue being raised back in December 2021, it is yet to be fixed.”
Venetia gave birth to her twins eight months ago (pictured), and said: “It has caused a lot of anxiety. I feel nobody cares and people don’t listen.”
She says since the problem with the leak began, there have been swarms of small flying insects that have bitten her and caused an allergic reaction.
“I had to go to A&E after I was bitten by insects above my eye. There’s a chance these insects are from the situation with the leak.”
As well as her own health, she is concerned for the twins: “What if the babies are bitten, or the mould affects their breathing?”
She says she has not had a council official visit the property, despite the health and safety concerns raised, only contractors
“Even raising a complaint through the council’s complaint mechanism has been extremely slow,” she added.
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Other neighbours have echoed these concerns. Ashley, a neighbour experiencing the same problems, said the people doing ‘an inspection’ – council-approved contractors – have been about three or four times, and nothing has been fixed.
“I’m fed up,” Ashley said. “They say they’re doing an inspection but they don’t say what for and nothing ever gets fixed. Who are these people I’m letting into my flat and what were they doing before? Why only now – after a year and a half – do they want to do this testing to resolve it?”
To make matters worse, they said they are paying every time a contractor comes and fails to fix anything.
“The most infuriating is that whenever a council-approved contractor has unsuccessfully attempted to fix the leak, the money paid to them is added to the service charge bill for the block,” Venetia added.
Cllr Darren Merrill said: “We want this resolved for [Venetia] and her family as soon as possible and we won’t stop until it is sorted out for her. As with all leaks in blocks or larger estates, it can sometimes be really hard to ascertain where the leak is coming from. We’ve already done some work to the roof which we believe may help, carried out repairs to neighbouring properties and finished a CCTV survey of the rainwater pipe. We are carrying out a dye test to definitively trace the problem and permanently resolve it.”
After the News requested a comment from Southwark Council, Venetia received a response stating they would come and do a test to resolve the issue.
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