Family’s five-year battle over collapsing council flat: ‘It’s dangerous’

A family living on the ground floor of a Haggerston council block say they are scared for their lives at Bryant Court, where they say leaks left unresolved for more than five years have caused the walls to cave in.

Doudou Panda, who lives at the property with his wife, Josefina, and their three children, said that despite the wall behind the bathroom being replaced three times, the problems remain.

The severity is immediately clear on walking into the bathroom: an entire wall has fallen away, debris is scattered across a floor permanently covered in water, and the ceiling above the shower looks as though it could give way at any moment.

“It never happened like this before,” Panda said, standing in the bathroom where exposed wiring hangs from the gap in the ceiling. “But now, look what is happening. We’ve never seen such damage before. It’s getting worse and worse and worse.”

Bryant Court is an 11-storey residential block in Haggerston, on Whiston Road near Kingsland Road.

‘Five years’ of unanswered calls

The problem was first reported on 17 February 2021, when Panda contacted Hackney Neighbourhood and Hackney Repair.

Since then, he said, he has repeatedly reached out to the building’s maintenance and repair service, sending WhatsApp videos, photographs and making phone calls that went unanswered.

A response came only when the building’s concierge intervened, after the leaks reached the foyer — two minutes later, and on loudspeaker.

“We are dying,” Panda told the estate’s housing officer. “We need you to come and see what is happening in my flat.” The officer’s response, he said, was that he was too busy with other jobs.

“Although I spoke to him that day, and the concierge spoke to him, I was really, really disappointed,” Panda said. “The concierge said it was terrible.”

Hackney’s repair service has sent numerous plumbers to the property over the years, according to Panda, requiring the family to take time off work to be present, only for contractors to conclude the job was too large for them to resolve.

‘It’s dangerous for my family’

Panda believes the source of the leak lies higher up in the building. Water can be seen running down the exterior wall and pooling on the roof of his bathroom extension. A foul-smelling odour often permeates the flat, he said, and buckets are placed around the rooms, slowly filling with the brown liquid that drips from the ceiling.

A neighbour directly above has reported a similar problem in her kitchen, with damaged cupboards and days when she has been unable to cook and has had to take her two children to her mother’s. The flat above hers reportedly had a wall opened up in an attempt to trace the source, without success.

Panda said the family now live with standing water spreading through the flat, including into the children’s bedroom, where towels are laid down to absorb it. Water comes up through the floorboards as well as down from the ceiling, he said, and the family have kept the children off school on days when they cannot shower for fear of the ceiling collapsing.

“It’s dangerous for my family. It’s dangerous,” he said. “I don’t know what can happen.

“[My family] are scared. Sometimes you’re taking a shower and that brown water is dropping from the ceiling, then your body starts itching. It’s not healthy.” His children are sometimes too frightened to use the toilet in their own home, he said.

Survey scheduled

Hackney Council has told the family a survey of the property is scheduled for 10 July.

Asked whether the planned visit gave him confidence the problem would finally be resolved, Panda was not hopeful. “Whatever they come and do, when they go, something will happen again,” he said.

“First it was the wall, then the tiles. But now, look what is happening. We’ve never seen such damage before. It’s getting worse and worse and worse.”

Hackney Council was approached for comment.