Cancer survivor 'lost the will to live in mouldy flat'

A cancer survivor who had to recover from lung surgery in a flat so damp mushrooms began growing on the wall has said she "lost the will to live".

Maria Dowell, 57, first noticed water coming into the third-floor central London flat she shares with her adult daughter in September 2019.

The dampness spreading across the walls created an ideal environment for mould and mushrooms to grow.

"My life has turned into absolute chaos since all this happened," she said.

Ms Dowell, who lives in social housing set aside for those who are most in need, added: "Nobody wants this kind of stress when they're recovering from cancer."

She said she told her landlord, Soho Housing Association, that water was leaking into her flat in as soon as she noticed the problem.

The property, in Hayden House, Holborn, is connected to a larger block of private flats managed by FirstPort.

FirstPort agreed to carry out a survey and had made some repairs to the roof of Ms Dowell's flat by January of last year.

Soho Housing Association said this was followed up with some "remedial repairs" in March 2020.

"It was only about a month before the mould came back and we were back to square one," Ms Dowell said.

"Soho Housing kept telling me they were 'building the case'. I thought 'do I have to die in the flat before they have a good case?'"

At about this time, Ms Dowell noticed she was becoming increasingly short of breath walking up the stairs to her third-floor flat.

"It [cancer] took me down very quickly. I was very healthy, but it took everything from me."

She went to hospital in December with suspected bleeding in the lungs, at a time when coronavirus cases were surging in London, and she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Still, she considers herself to be "lucky" as her cancer was stage one, which meant it was relatively easy to treat.

She said: "I was also very, very fortunate to be to have surgery very quickly. A lot of people weren't able to have surgery at such a time."

On 30 December Ms Dowell had part of her left lung removed.

She was in hospital for four nights before it became too dangerous to stay in a building that was admitting more and more Covid-19 patients.

"I was terrified to return home - I was still immune-compromised," she said.

"Sometimes you walk in and feel irritation, like acid on your skin, so that made me feel scared."

According to the NHS, damp and mould in a flat increases the risk of respiratory problems, respiratory infections, allergies or asthma.

Damp and mould can also affect the immune system.

Ms Dowell added: "I felt hopeless, like there would be no end to it. It would just end in me dying.

"I was losing the will to live."

On 20 January, FirstPort agreed to pay for a hotel for Ms Dowell to stay in while the source of the water was investigated.

A surveyor's report has now been completed, FirstPort said.

It is thought the leak was caused when new paving slabs were laid on the roof garden above Ms Dowell's flat.

On Thursday, she will move into a one-bedroom flat in the same block as her old home, until repairs are completed.

Jane Harrison, interim CEO of Soho Housing Association, said: "We are really sorry for any upset caused to Maria.

"We understand she will want to be able to move back into her home as soon as possible and in the meantime we are providing her with all the support we can."

The housing association blamed "poor communication" with FirstPort and the impact of the pandemic for the delay.

A spokeswoman for FirstPort said: "We are very sorry about the time it has taken to resolve this extremely complicated and recurring rainwater ingress in the building we manage, which is next door to Ms Dowell's block.

"We are all completely focused on working together to get Ms Dowell home as soon as possible."

Housing charity Shelter has called on the government to "put in place proper inspection and enforcement" for social housing.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: "No-one should have to live in a home that is in disrepair and be powerless to fix it - let alone someone facing serious illness.

"Decades of neglect, coupled with sweeping deregulation, have pushed some social housing tenants into dangerous situations that impact their health."

A spokesman for The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said "by law all landlords must ensure properties are fit for people to live in".

He added: "All registered providers of social housing must meet standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing.

"We've announced major reforms to support tenants, including our Charter for Social Housing Residents, that will provide greater redress for residents, better regulation and improve the quality of social housing."