Mum wins payout for ‘damp’ flat but Havering Council deny liability
Family from Collier Row, wins court case with the council. Mum Angela Treadway, with Charlie and Conner. - Credit: Archant
A family has ended an eight-year “nightmare” housing saga with the council after receiving a five-figure sum from insurers.
Angela Treadway received the payout after claiming her damp housing conditions in Elvet Avenue, Elm Park, caused the family huge amounts of stress and trauma.
Havering Council has never admitted any liability and says no issues relating to dampness have been identified since the flat was vacated.
Ms Treadway lived in Mountbatten House block of flats and first complained to the council about damp conditions in 2008.
After repeated complaints over the course of five years, the family secured a move in 2013, with the mum of two launching legal action the year later relating to claims of personal injury and psychological symptoms.
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She said: “My youngest child would cough so much because he was so sick.
“He had chest infection after chest infection and was put on steroids eventually because nothing else was working.
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“I also developed depression because I felt I couldn’t protect my family and got upset at seeing my sons so ill every day.”
The case was set to be heard at Romford County Court last month but the day before it was due to start, insurers paid out.
A council spokesman said: “Our housing team has worked hard to help this lady since she first reported damp in her flat in 2008.
“This has been a complex and difficult situation involving structural issues at Mountbatten House, which the council has spent a great deal of time and money addressing, made worse by defective fans and windows which the council repaired.
“A complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman in 2011 led to a finding that the council had taken all reasonable steps to deal with the damp problem.”
Ms Treadway claims that since moving to a new flat in Turpin Avenue, Collier Row, her children are now healthy.
