Crowfield House home-owner’s legal threat in battle over dampness ‘that makes me ill’
Published: 4th March, 2011
by PETER GRUNER
A BOUTIQUE owner is threatening legal action in a dispute with the Town Hall over whether dampness at her Highbury flat is caused by a leaking roof or condensation.
Leaseholder Yuksel Karaagac decided to call in her own surveyor after housing officials insisted that large patches of mould and damp on her walls were the result of the flat “overheating”. She blamed the mould for making her and her 14-year-old son ill.
Mrs Karaagac paid £300 for a three-hour survey of the top-floor former council flat at Crowfield House in Highbury New Park.
The study concluded that the problem had nothing to do with condensation and was due to a defective roof.
A detailed 12-page surveyor’s report, along with a letter from her GP, was presented to the council’s housing agency Homes for Islington (HfI) last month. HfI has yet to respond and Mrs Karaagac is on the point of instructing a solicitor.
Although she owns her flat, Islington Council owns the building and is responsible for the upkeep of the roof.
Mrs Karaagac, who owns Resurrection Boutique on Archway roundabout, said she started to detect dampness on the walls of her flat last October.
In December, she obtained a letter from her GP pointing out that the dampness in the flat needed to be repaired. “It was worsening my asthma,” Mrs Karaagac said. She and her son went to live with her brother for two weeks.
A spokeswoman for HfI said: “We will be sending out a surveyor to re-inspect the roof. If it is found that the roof is in need of repair, we will repair it as normal under the lease.”