A man suffering with PTSD has said the leaky ceiling of his West London flat is triggering his mental health condition.
Fabio Freemantle, 37, who lives in a council property in North Kensington, was forced to relocate to a hotel in June after his leaky ceiling caused him significant distress.
Fabio works as a hotel concierge and often gets woken up by water and loose plaster dripping his bed and TV, the he told MyLondon.
He claims the downpour has wrecked his possessions, including jackets and his £5,000 Bose speakers.
The flat's disrepair is triggering traumatic memories for the hospitality worker, as he associates the chaos with a fire that broke out in the 13-storey tower block in 2015.
Fabio was the last person to escape the building as the flames raged on, sweeping through two apartments which were "completely alight" by the time firefighters arrived.
The 37-year-old narrowly escaped, sprinting down 189 steps to find safety through the building's fire exit, while "covered in carbon", he said.
Fortunately, Fabio escaped without any serious injuries, but 16 others were rushed to hospital.
"When I got out it looked like I was completely drunk because I had so much carbon on me,' he said.
“The PTSD is still there when leaks happen in my flat.”
To collect the water, Fabio usually sets up buckets under the holes, and tries to keep his possessions out of the water's way.
Fabio said: “It’s like trying to wake up from a nightmare. They threw me to the lions.
“I don’t crumble very easily but how much can one take?”
The most recent leak took place on August 10 and the water has stained his ceiling.
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They started in 2018 after Fabio watched the ceiling split before damp and mould spread throughout in 2019.
The issue became so bad he took the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to court on 7 June 2021 and was given £2,800 in damages.
A council spokesperson said: “London has been hit by extreme weather conditions over recent weeks and the unprecedented rainfall in July led to some damage to residents' properties."
