Council failure left newborn with breathing issues in mouldy flat for months

The Council wrongly blamed a mother’s ‘lifestyle’ after her baby was left ‘at avoidable risk of harm’ in a mouldy flat, according to an Ombudsman. 

A newborn baby with breathing problems was left in a cramped, mouldy flat due to delays and failures at Tower Hamlets Council.

The baby’s mother repeatedly asked the council to move her to more suitable accommodation, according to a report by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. 

But the council and agent wrongly blamed the mould on her ‘lifestyle’.

The ombudsman said this meant both mother and baby ‘spent at least four months at avoidable risk of harm’.

The council housed the mother, named in the report as ‘Miss X’, in a privately-let one-bed flat in 2023, as temporary homelessness accommodation.

Miss X was pregnant, and says she reported the damp and mould to the agent as soon as she moved in.

After she gave birth, her baby was in intensive care with breathing problems.

Miss X told the council she couldn’t bring her baby home because of the damp and mould. She provided evidence, including photos and pictures, and pursued a review of her accommodation’s suitability.

The hospital wrote to the council in February 2024 to confirm Miss X’s baby was on oxygen. It said it couldn’t discharge the baby because of the ‘significant damp and mould’.

However, the hospital did discharge the baby later in March as it needed to free up the bed.

Miss X also complained to the agent, who had previously treated the mould with anti-mould paint. In response, the agent asked her how she was ventilating the property, but Miss X said the problem was caused by underlying damp.

In response to a complaint, the council also said the agent had ‘acted to address the issues of damp and mould’ but said it was still reviewing the flat’s suitability.

In April, Miss X showed the council photographs of mould growing on baby clothes. She said she had been keeping windows open for hours.

She said the flat was ‘constantly damp and so her posessions were getting mouldy’.

The ombudsman’s report says: ‘Miss X shared a picture showing mould growing on the mattress of her baby’s Moses basket.

‘Miss X and her baby were particularly at risk of harm to their health from damp and mould. Miss X’s baby even more so given the respiratory problems from birth.’

In May 2024, the council found her accommodation wasn’t suitable. The agent told the council it would ‘not be attending to any further mould-related issues at the property’.

It said this was because ‘the responsibility for maintaining a clean and healthy living environment lies with the occupant’.

Despite the review, the council didn’t move Miss X to another flat until November 2024. It said the delay was because of a shortage of available accommodation.

The council accepted it was at fault for the delay. It told the ombudsman this ‘was because of the wider housing crisis and the difficulty this causes councils in finding suitable and affordable temporary accommodation’.

The council has also told the ombudsman it now requires landlords and agents to provide time-stamped photographs and an inspection form to prove temporary accommodation is suitable.

The ombudsman’s report further reveals Miss X had complained that the flat was too close to family members in a neighbouring borough, whom she had fled due to domestic abuse.

Miss X told the council she saw family members when she went out and was spending her days on the opposite side of the city to feel safe. The ombudsman concluded the council was also at fault for failing to consider this.

The report also says the council wrongly told Miss X the flat was unfurnished. She applied for a grant to buy furniture for the flat, but on moving in, found it was already furnished.

This meant there was not enough room in the flat for her baby’s cot or oxygen cannisters. Despite this, the agent refused to remove the furniture.

The ombudsman says the council has agreed to pay Miss X £3,000 in total to remedy the delays, recognise the ‘avoidable risk of harm to her and her baby’ and to recognise ‘her avoidable frustration and frustress’.

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