Litany of complaints from residents of Chaplin House in South Acton


(images courtesy Darren Atwood)

Residents from a South Acton housing block say they're living in rat infested, appalling conditions which are a health hazard and they're demanding action.

The tenants of Chaplin House on All Saints Road - which was built six years ago - have taken to social media with a litany of complaints, including infestations, mould, damp and poor maintenance.

( Darren, Emilia and Izabella)

Darren Atwood, 30, set up the page on Facebook after reporting numerous vermin incidents - which he says even included finding rat droppings in the bed.

His complaints have been met with thousands more comments on social media and Mr Atwood says:

'' Many of the residents, myself included have young children and we are becoming very worried about these issues as they are a serious health and safety risks and are clearly extremely hazardous to our health I myself have a 17 Month Daughter who is no longer able to play in her bedroom or on the floor at fear of contamination as weil's disease is extremely dangerous to a child.''

Another resident, says when she was heavily pregnant when they discovered mould and a soaked carpet and were forced to sleep in the lounge for three months.

The residents are furious with Catalyst Housing, which part-owns the properties. Each household pays £150 charge a month £6,450 in total on maintenance fees for the building and surrounding gardens.

 Mr Atwood says:

''We as residents actually part share these properties and pay rent and a maintenance therefore we in the eyes of the law would be considered tenants, so in fact Catalyst would have a legal obligation to ensure we live in suitable and safe accommodation failure to do so should clearly be in breach of contract and tenants rights....as well as being in breach of Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 as a matter of negligences.''

He has written to his local MP Rupa Huq who tells Acton W3:

'' I approached the CEO of Catalyst in order to open a dialogue on the matter. I told him that I wanted to be kept fully informed on what actions Catalyst plan to take to address the problem. I have had both telephone and email conversations with Mr Rod Cahill, who has assured me that the matter is now being taken in hand, and that he has assigned a dedicated officer to head up the works in the building – the residents are able to direct all their questions to this officer and make any further reports to them as well.''

Catalyst say that their contractors started a baiting program in communal areas in January and they have also carried out deep cleaning of the refuse areas and have surveyed individual properties on request.

Alan Llorente, Neighbourhood Experience Manager for Chaplin House, said:

“We are committed to delivering a high quality Neighbourhood and Estate management service to the residents of Chaplin House and we apologise for the discomfort they have faced.

“We have a comprehensive plan in place to deal with the issue and we already seeing a reduction in rodent activity.”

2nd March 2017