A South London mum with epilepsy claims her health has declined in her ‘inappropriate’ council flat and she needs a step-free shower for her own safety. Remona Clarke, 46, was moved into the one-bed flat in Battersea by Wandsworth Council in 2014.
Ms Clarke told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the property was previously used as garages for flats above, before being converted into a ground-floor home. She claimed the flat has caused her ‘stress’ and impacted her health after experiencing long-running issues with damp, mould and accessibility.
Wandsworth Council said it strongly disputed Ms Clarke’s claims after inspecting the property, but that it would work with her to take whatever steps were appropriate to improve her living conditions.
The mum has focal epilepsy, which causes seizures and blackouts, Graves’ disease, arthritis, asthma, a previous ankle fracture and metal plate in her leg. She said she felt the council had ignored a report from an occupational therapist in March 2022 stating she needs fully wheelchair-accessible housing.
The report said Ms Clarke is likely to become a permanent wheelchair user in the future and her property needs a level-access shower, meaning it would not have a step so people of all mobility levels could use it. Her current flat only has a bath and she raised concerns for her safety if she has a seizure while getting into it. She told the LDRS: “The issue to do with the bath is I’ve already blacked out in there and ended up with damage to another side of my brain.”
She claimed she needs to be moved into another property to address the issue as the flat can’t be fitted with a step-free shower. “Even if they were told to put in a shower, it wouldn’t be able to get put in this property because of the condensation,” she said. “It would make the condensation worse because this is not a property, it’s a [converted] garage.”
Ms Clarke said the flat is plagued by condensation and its ‘very old’ double glazed windows ‘get steamed up from the inside’. The occupational therapist report from March 2022 said there was ‘extensive evidence of black and white mould’ in the flat.
It added she had provided the occupational therapist with an earlier GP letter ‘requesting she is rehoused given the adverse effect of mould on her health, she experiences breathing difficulties and has had to attend A&E on several occasions because she could not breathe properly’.
Ms Clarke told the LDRS the council carried out a mould wash in the property in October last year, but claimed this did not remove all of it and the issues have persisted. She said: “There’s still mould over the walls and my things have still got mould on them. I’ve had to throw away more things.”
On top of replacing her belongings, she claimed she often has to spend ‘unnecessary money’ to eat in a local café as condensation in the flat causes her food to go off more quickly. Regarding the mould, she said: “No matter how many times they come back [to carry out a mould wash], it’s going to still come back because of the condensation.”
Ms Clarke told the LDRS she needs to be moved into a property ‘suitable for my health problems’. She added: “Because of the inappropriate places I’ve been getting put in, it’s not helping my health. It’s deteriorating my health even more.”
A Wandsworth Council spokesperson said: “Having recently inspected the property and met with the resident we would strongly dispute this description of her housing situation, but we will continue to liaise with this tenant to discuss her housing needs and take whatever steps are reasonable and appropriate to improve her living conditions.”
