Romford: Havering denies Mountbatten House has mould problem

But Havering Council has denied that the blocks have outlived their key infrastructure, claiming the problems experienced by tenants are all “isolated incidents”. 

Residents of Mountbatten House, in Elvet Avenue, Gidea Park, described wallpaper falling off of their walls, rotten windows letting in rainwater and mushrooms growing from their walls. 

Two men on the estate said they each had to run expensive machines all day to try to combat the persistent damp. 

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One tenant, Kay Connelly, said she had experienced leaks and floods on roughly an annual basis for almost three decades, costing her a fortune. 

“In the end, I got fed up with laying carpets because they kept getting flooded,” she said. 

Kay Connelly said she had suffered leaks roughly once a year since she moved into Mountbatten House almost 30 years ago. Picture: Charles Thomson (Image: Charles Thomson)

Bathroom blues 

Key became a council tenant in Mountbatten House 28 years ago, aged 20. 

After 16 years’ service at a solicitors’ firm and a decade at Essex Police, she is now unable to work for health reasons. 

Last year, when the council told her it would refurbish her bathroom to bring it up to modern regulations, she was happy. 

“I had never, ever liked the bathroom,” she said. 

The works were done in November. But by mid-December, before they had even been signed off, a yellow stain had appeared on the wall. 

She knew right away that it was yet another leak. 

Within days, Kay said lumps began falling out of the bathroom wall. Then her hallway ceiling collapsed. 

Water has also been leaking through the bedroom ceiling, in which a visible crack stretches the length of the room.  

Kay said she had to keep cleaning black mould off of the wall beside her son’s bed. 

Kay Connelly's ceiling fell down after it became waterlogged due to a leak. Picture: Charles Thomson (Image: Charles Thomson)

Mushrooms 

Kay isn’t the only person to report recurring issues.  

Her upstairs neighbour Debbie has lived in the block for 11 years and suffered “constant” damp. 

In the past, she claimed this has caused mould so bad that “there were mushrooms growing up” from the walls. 

Her living room windows and balcony door constantly let in water, she said. 

She showed the Recorder orange stains on her net curtains. 

“This is the sixteenth lot of curtains I’ve bought,” she lamented. 

There is rot around the frame of the windows and balcony door. In high winds, she said, it makes loud banging noises, as though it is moving. 

She keeps her curtains permanently drawn, in the hope that if it all comes crashing in one day, that might protect her. 

Mountbatten House (right), in Elvet Avenue, Gidea Park, was built in the 1960s and is owned by Havering Council. Picture: Charles Thomson (Image: Charles Thomson)

Mould 

Aaron, an NHS worker, lives below Kay and Debbie. 

He was born in Mountbatten House and returned to live there three years ago. 

It has deteriorated in the intervening decades, he said.  

“I’ve got black mould all across the bathroom ceiling,” said Aaron. “I’ve used so many products and it’s not gone. All the paint’s peeling off.” 

His bedroom also has black mould, he said, as do his windows, which he has to clean regularly. 

In his living room, “the wallpaper keeps peeling off. I’ve redecorated four times in three years.” 

The kitchen is so damp, he added, that “I’ve got electric heaters on constantly to try and dry it out”. 

Another man reported a similar problem, but in another block on the estate. 

He claimed he had to run two dehumidifying machines constantly to keep his flat dry. 

In December, a council worker came to sign off the refurbishment of Kay's bathroom. By January, after the latest in a long line of leaks, it looked like this. Picture: Charles Thomson (Image: Charles Thomson)

"Isolated incidents” 

According to Kay, council workers have confided in her that the buildings, built in the 1960s, were only designed to last 50 years and their infrastructure is falling apart.  

But Havering Council denied that when questioned by the Recorder. 

“We do experience isolated incidents of leaks which can lead to mould growth,” it said. 

“In some circumstances, mould growth is also caused by condensation to individual properties. 

“We have not identified any trend in the cases reported to us at Mountbatten House.” 

The council said the main cause of leaks was “waste connections onto the infrastructure”, which were “resolved on a local level without the need to do further works”. 

But, it added: “Mould, when it occurs in properties, is a significant concern and is likely to be exacerbated by the current cost-of-living crisis.” 

It urged any residents experiencing problems to report them to the council.