A health visitor wrote to housing officials expressing concern about conditions in a rented flat months before a two-year-old died after his exposure to mould.
An inquest in Rochdale is investigating the death of toddler Awaab Ishak who lived with his mother and father in a one-bedroom housing estate flat managed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH).
The coroner’s court has released images from inside the flat showing copious amounts of black mould in the kitchen and bathroom.
Awaab’s father, Faisal Abdullah, first reported the damp and mould in autumn 2017, a year before the birth of his son. He made numerous complaints – phoning and emailing – and requested re-housing.
In December 2020 Awaab developed flu-like symptoms and had difficulty breathing. He was given hospital treatment and then discharged.
Two days later his condition at home worsened and he was seen at Rochdale urgent care centre where he was found to be in respiratory failure. He was transferred to Royal Oldham hospital where, upon arrival, he was in cardiac arrest and died. It was just a week after his second birthday.
A pathologist told the inquest that the child’s throat was swollen to an extent it would compromise breathing. Exposure to fungi was the most plausible explanation for the inflammation.
On Tuesday the inquest heard from health visitor Caroline Ryan who saw for herself the black mould and damp in the kitchen and bathroom of the flat.
In July 2020, during lockdown, she wrote a letter to housing officers at the address of RBH raising concerns about the amount of mould, and noting that exposure to it can have serious health consequences, especially in children. She asked for the family’s rehousing request to be prioritised.
Ryan said she received no response at the time and was asked by Abdullah to re-send the letter in November.
She said she did not pass on concerns about the flat to the family GP because when she saw Awaab, he was not unwell.
Lawyers for the family say the inquest will consider a number of matters including concerns about mould and damp and how they were dealt with. It will also look at the sharing of information between agencies and how the family’s cultural and language requirements were taken into account.
Officials from RBH have yet to give evidence at the inquest but a statement was provided to the coroner on Tuesday in which RBH admits it “should have taken responsibility for the mould issues and undertaken a more proactive response”.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman for England, has told the inquest that the law needs to be strengthened to compel landlords to address mould and damp. It was not, he said, given the same legal standing as gas safety and legionella.
Blakeway told Radio 4 on Tuesday that there were mould problems in about 3% of social housing properties and higher in private rented housing.
“We have seen a significant increase in the casework on damp and mould,” he said, pointing to a report the ombudsman published a year ago “because we were so concerned about what we were seeing”.
That report called for a “zero tolerance” approach to damp and mould. “For households who experience it, they can experience profound detriment. It can lead to distress, it can affect their belongings, they can be embarrassed about their living environment.”
Landlords were too often defensive, dismissive or fatalistic, he said. The responsibility to sort it out lay with the landlord.
Before the inquest Abdullah said: “We have a number of questions that we hope the inquest process will provide answers to. We want to ensure that any lessons to be learned are acted upon and that no other family has to go through this.”
An investigation by the Manchester Evening News found other families on the same estate, the Freehold estate, were still living in mouldy and damp accommodation, 18 months after the two-year-old’s death.
The inquest, conducted by senior coroner Joanne Kearsley, continues.
