Mum who ‘couldn’t breathe’ because of mould in bedroom sleeping on living room floor

By Charlotte Lillywhite, Local Democracy Reporter

A mother-of-three says she has been sleeping on a mattress with her toddler in their living room for months after feeling like she “couldn’t breathe” due to mould in one of the bedrooms. 

Dionne Davidson, 37, said the two-bed flat in Croydon she was moved into by Wandsworth council is also overcrowded and it takes up to 90 minutes to drive her kids to school, costing at least £70 a week in petrol.

Ms Davidson said the flat is the third “inadequate” temporary accommodation she has been moved into by the council since 2021 with her three kids – aged nine, eight and two. 

She has been living there since March this year after she was served a Section 21, no-fault eviction notice by her previous landlord. 

The council offered her new temporary accommodation in Wandsworth in late November, which she is set to move into in the coming days.

The mum said she is “relieved” to know her family will be moving out of the property into somewhere more suitable, but that it has taken a toll on their physical and mental health. 

Ms Davidson said: “I’m having to upheave and move again because the property has disrepair.

“When I was sleeping in the bedroom I was getting this cough and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“So I just sleep on the mattress on the floor in the front room.”

She said one of her daughters has a “cough because of the mould and damp” in the flat, while her asthma has got “progressively worse” since living there. Their belongings have also been damaged by mould, she said.

Rent Connect said it had not received any reports of damp or condensation through its official portal, and that it treats its occupiers’ wellbeing with the “utmost importance”.

Ms Davidson is also concerned the flat is a “fire hazard” as she has experienced multiple power cuts since living there.

Ms Davidson has reported power cuts and issues with lighting to Rent Connect multiple times since moving in, but said contractors did not visit the property to inspect the roof until November. 

She said: “My son has been bed-wetting because he doesn’t want to go down that dark hallway when there’s no lighting in here to go to the toilet.”

Ms Davidson said the distance of the property from her kids’ school, her workplace and the family’s support network has made life even more difficult. 

She said her kids are “exhausted” as they sometimes have to leave the flat by 6.45am to get to school, and they had been late multiple times.

The mum said she is more than 400th on the housing waiting list, in band B, which has not changed since she moved into the flat. 

A spokesman from Rent Connect said: “Had there been reports of dampness or condensation, we would have taken immediate action to investigate, rectify, and ensure the wellbeing of our occupiers.

“We remain committed to maintaining transparency and open communication with both the media and our clients.”

A Wandsworth Council spokesperson said: “While we dispute a number of the claims being made here, we accept that Ms Davidson is unhappy living in this address and so have arranged for her to be rehoused in another property within the borough and are just awaiting final confirmation of the date she and her children can move into that new address, which should be in the next few days. We are in contact with her to arrange that.”

Pictured top: Dionne Davidson in the Croydon flat she was moved into by Wandsworth council (Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon)