Ealing Woman Compensated After Living With Damp for Five Years

Says she reported problem to council over 30 times

Beverley McNally (left) and the faulty extractor fan

April 10, 2024

A woman from West Ealing who was forced to endure extreme damp in her home for five years has won compensation from the council.

She had been living in the townhouse for over 20 years and there were no serious issues with the property until a leaky extractor fan was installed five years ago.

Along with her two daughters, Chelsea, 25, and Sophie, 20, who both suffer from asthma, she was forced to avoid the bathroom where it had been placed as a ring of toxic mould started to form around it and dripped down the wall.

“We wouldn’t invite people around because we were so embarrassed,” said 44-year-old Beverley. “I would try and put people off coming over even though it wasn’t any fault of our own.

“The house wasn’t comfortable to live in, but we had to stay here. It was really affecting us all.

“My daughters are both asthmatic. They would run into the bathroom, quickly shower and then leave straight away so they didn’t breathe it in.”

As the leak got worse, the water spread to the kitchen, hallway, and bedrooms, making the walls look yellow and damp.

She claims she contacted the council on multiple occasions but never saw any progress, with it reportedly telling her it had no record of her previous complaints.

She said, “I probably reported it over 30 times. “I’d call up once, and then again in two weeks’ time. When I still hadn’t heard anything, they’d say they had no evidence that I had ever called.

“I got so angry that I stopped calling them.”

While she was eventually able to get Ealing Council to send someone to look at the fan, Beverely said they left stating they couldn’t see where the leak was coming from.

She also got a new kitchen fitted by the council after the damp started causing issues in other rooms, but claimed the work was rushed and quickly started falling apart.

She added, “I was fighting with them for five years, saying my bathroom had gone mouldy, my hallway was damp and wet. It’s getting worse.

“They would say someone would come to fix it, but then wouldn’t show up, or they would, and the problem wouldn’t be fixed. Sometimes they would send the wrong person altogether, like an electrician would be sent to fix the leak.”

Damp from the extractor fan started to spread to other parts of the house

After having an operation which left her unable to walk comfortably, Beverley says she found herself having to deal with additional stress from her own health concerns.

Feeling that she had exhausted all other options, in February of last year she contacted Veritas Solicitors, a Manchester-based firm to represent her. By November, the council had agreed to pay £3000 compensation and complete the outstanding work within 120 days.

Faraz Fazal, a Managing Partner at Veritas Solicitors, said, “Everyone should be able to live in their home without worrying about how it is harming them and their health.

“Beverely’s experience reflects countless others, with tenants who persistently report issues to landlords seeing no action taken to fix the problem.

“This case is a reminder to landlords that they have a duty to provide safe homes for their tenants and a reminder to tenants that they deserve to be taken seriously.”

A council spokesperson said, “Keeping our tenants safe in their homes is a priority for us. We take all complaints seriously, and we are sorry that this tenant was not given the standard of service they should expect.

“This case has been settled through our repair and legal teams and the outstanding work was completed and the case closed in November 2023. We have learnt several lessons from this case and have worked on improving our repairs service. We recently invested in a full case management solution, Mobysoft’s repairs platform, Repair Sense, and have also appointed a second repairs contractor.”