A family has hit out at Waltham Forest Council after claiming to have been living in a damp flat for 16 years.

Vicklyn Noel-Quayom, lives Tenby Court, Walthamstow, with her husband and 19-year-old daughter.

However, for the last 16 years they say that they have had to endure damp conditions with a constant leak in their bathroom.

The damp causes a smell which was so bad at one time that it was said to have made the family vomit.

In the past, Mr and Mrs Noel-Quayo have had to ban their grandchildren from visiting over worries for their health.

Mrs Noel-Quayo, 52, says no one at Ascham Homes, the company which manages the homes on behalf of the council, will take her seriously.

She said: “We have always suffered from this leak which turns into damp. The walls turn black.

“In January that year it was coming out with a vengeance.

"They came and they fixed it but every time they fix it, the problem comes back.

“Nobody is listening to me or doing anything about it. It is horrible to live with.

“If it’s not one thing it’s another.”

In February of this year the family was finally given a replacement bathroom.

However, just two months later, paint began peeling from the ceiling and the damp has returned.

Mrs Noel-Quayo said that she is fed up with being surrounded by mould and damp.

She added: “I was so happy when they did the new bathroom, only for this to happen again.

“I keep calling them and they say it is not an emergency. There is paint falling from the ceiling. I am worried that one day it will just collapse.

“Obviously there is a leak in the wall. They say they will come out again at the end of the month. It is not enough.”

Ascham Homes has been asked to comment.