'I can't sell this house – we absolutely are trapped'

A couple who spent £350,000 on a new-build house in east London say they were misled into buying a defective property, after struggling with damp, mould and water ingress for over 10 years - and fear they will never be able to leave.

Syed Alam and his wife Sahela are among several residents of the Brooklime House development in Homerton, Hackney, who believe a structural issue with the building is behind the problems they've been experiencing.

Syed, 52, raised concerns about water ingress and other defects to Hackney Council when he first viewed his property with regeneration consultants Source Partnership in 2015.

However, Hackney Council assured him these issues would be rectified before Syed and his six-months-pregnant wife, Sahela, moved in with their two sons. More than a decade later, they are still fighting for their home to be made fully habitable.

The couple have reached out to many people in the hope of their home being fixed, including their local MP Dame Meg Hiller and Citizens Advice. However, they still don't see a solution in sight.

Syed, who is a leaseholder and is therefore liable for internal repairs unless the issue is structural, said that any repair works organised by Hackney Council, which is the freeholder, had only worsened his family's living conditions.

He said contractors had left behind holes in the walls of his living room that have made it unbearably cold.

He showed the BBC these holes, which he has covered with cereal boxes.

"Due to the heavy rainfall over the rainy seasons, the situation gets severely worse," he said.

"I can't sell this house – we absolutely are trapped."

Syed, who said that since his home was a new-build only the standard surveys were carried out, told the BBC that his mental health was deteriorating because of his poor living conditions and the couple worried about the impact mould inhalation is having on their children.

The mould worsens their children's asthma - a concern they and their doctor have passed on to Hackney Council.

A report from the Housing Ombudsman Service in September 2024 identified service failings with the council and its "response to reports of water ingress and associated damp and mould", along with its handling of the couple's complaints.

The watchdog told the BBC the landlord had complied with its orders at the time and it was sad to learn that the residents' issues had not been sorted, advising them to go through the complaint process again.

Mary Mensah, 59, and her daughter Natalie Mensah, 29, moved into Brooklime House in 2014.

Mary said: "They sold us a dream. It looked perfect when we viewed it."

They noticed the cracks in their walls and mould around the house shortly after they had moved in. They also discovered unfilled holes in the bathroom of their new-build home, which led to a mouse infestation three years ago.

They said they paid £400 to have the holes filled.

Asked if she had complained to Hackney Council, Mary said: "I didn't feel like the council would listen. As a black person they won't listen to us."

Mary added: "They're the ones who convinced me to move here."

Natasha, 53, another neighbour of Syed's, struggles with water leakage, which seeps into her and her children's bedrooms.

She said water ingress from the roof was the cause of the leak, but feels the council is ignoring this.

"I'm always checking the weather forecast; if it's raining, I instantly get so anxious," she said.

On 15 December 2025 Natasha said she took time off work to wait for repair works scheduled by Hackney Council. However, the contractors did not complete any repairs.

Natasha said she had still not received any response from the council on this matter.

She said her neighbours were experiencing the same issues, and in some cases more severe ones, yet no effective action had been taken.

"Scaffolding has been in place on the roof above our homes for over a year without any progress. Water continues to accumulate on the walkway above my children's bedroom, and I am increasingly concerned that it is now seeping into the internal walls," she said in an email to Hackney Council.

Data from the Housing Ombudsman shows that, in London, complaints about landlords' failure to carry out responsive repairs have nearly quadrupled in just three years, with almost eight in 10 cases ruled as maladministration.

A Hackney Council spokesperson said: "We take our role as one of the country's largest local authority social landlords, with over 30,000 homes, seriously.

"We are well aware of the issues and concerns that Mr Alam has raised and fully sympathise with the situation he and his family are in. We have been seeking to work with him for some time to remedy the situation, with all repair costs to be met by the council."

They added that the council was speeding up investigations into any reports of leaks, damp and mould in line with Awaab's law, which compels landlords to investigate and fix damp and mould in social housing.

As for Syed, who told the BBC that Hackney Council had been offered access to his home but he still hasn't heard anything from its repair team, he feels there is no end in sight to his decade-long ordeal.

"Hackney Council have misled me into buying a defective property, and have promised to rectify these issues and haven't done so," he said.

He said he was currently seeking legal advice - a decision he described as his last resort.

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