A woman suffered mould and asbestos issues in her home for years after a leak from a neighbour’s home damaged her bathroom.

Elina Melikyan, who lives at William Rainbird House in Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, first noticed the leak due to an untiled shower in a flat above hers in April 2020.

Although the leak has since been fixed, the problems in Elina’s own flat have not yet been resolved almost three years on.

Elina said: “The mould started because there was leakage from the flat above me. I found that in April and reported it, but there was no real action.

“The water was just collecting on the floor, the tiles became broken and there was asbestos there.”

This Is Local London: Elina's bathroom floor was damaged by a leak from the home above her in April 2020Elina's bathroom floor was damaged by a leak from the home above her in April 2020 (Image: Elina Melikyan)

According to Elina, these repairs are still “outstanding”.

Elina slammed housing group Homes for Haringey, which managed William Rainbird House.

She said: “The water came – fine, it can happen. But you should do a repair and then it’s finished.

“By not doing straightforward repairs, it wastes taxpayers' money. This is actually a systemic error."

Homes for Haringey passed into council control in June 2022, but Elina said the service had not improved.

She added that the phone line to speak to the housing provider is so busy that she often has to listen to recorded messages “for 30 to 40 minutes”.

Cllr Dana Carlin, Haringey's cabinet member for housing services, private renters, and planning, said: “We apologise for the issues which Ms Melikyan has been experiencing, which are the result of the leak from the property above. 

“This work has now been completed but we recognise it should have been resolved sooner. 

“We have undertaken an asbestos inspection and in the next week we will be visiting Ms Melikyan’s property to undertake the repairs.

“Haringey is committed to a zero-tolerance approach to damp and mould in our properties and we are reviewing our processes to ensure we identify and address issues earlier. 

“We have also streamlined our reporting process to ensure all reported damp and mould is correctly signposted to the relevant service.”

In January it was announced that the housing watchdog was launching a formal investigation into Haringey Council over its “repeated failures” as a landlord.

The Housing Ombudsman said it had 13 open cases into reported leaks, mould and damp in Haringey Council’s properties.