Sanjay’s 13-year-old daughter had just stood up to make food when the living room ceiling crashed down where she had been sitting.
It was the third ceiling collapse in their east London flat – and it nearly killed her.
Sanjay told Metro: ‘For the last 12 years I have been suffering in this place.
‘I want to live in peace with my family where I feel safe, where I don’t have to worry about leaks, mould, damp or a ceiling falling on my head.’
The single dad, 54, moved into the Forest Gate home in 2013, and was so happy with it, he hoped it would be their forever home.
But in January 2014, water started coming down from the flat above them into their home. A couple of months later, half the kitchen ceiling collapsed.
‘It couldn’t get any worse than it was,’ Sanjay said.
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‘I stayed without half of the ceiling. Water kept leaking down on and off on and off and it would not stop.
‘They put a replacement on the kitchen ceiling but it was a plastic material and the water was still coming through.’
Then in 2017, the bathroom ceiling collapsed. His housing association, L&Q, repaired them both times.
‘It couldn’t get any worse than it was,’ Sanjay said.
‘I stayed without half of the ceiling. Water kept leaking down on and off on and off and it would not stop.
‘They put a replacement on the kitchen ceiling but it was a plastic material and the water was still coming through.’
In 2020, the home started to suffer from mould and damp. Then came most dramatic collapse in 2023.
A crack appeared in May and then on November 19 that year it collapsed, narrowly avoiding one daughter but injuring his son, 16, and daughter, 17.
Sanjay said: ‘My daughter wouldn’t be here today if she hadn’t got up to make food. We were shocked and the kids couldn’t sleep at night.
‘They kept having visions of something falling. Any small noise left them scared.’
Most recently, water started leaking into Sanjay’s bathroom on May 23 this year.
He said the situation has, at times, left him feeling suicidal and he wants to be moved into a new home.
‘I nearly killed myself,’ he said. ‘I’m lonely, it’s miserable especially when I spend New Year’s and Christmas on my own,’ he said.
‘I’ve been through depression and I’m still not well. My children can’t study or concentrate living in this environment. We are packed and overcrowded. Life is difficult.’
L&Q carried out a full damp inspection in January this year and this week, they offered Sanjay and his family a hotel for up to six weeks for repairs. However, he refused this because he would be placed back in the same flat.
Sanjay and his family have received support from London Renters Union.
Around 50 people from the group protested outside L&Q’s offices in Stratford demanding that he is rehomed and given compensation.
He said: ‘I don’t ask for much, I just want something comfortable for me and my family. What I really want is for L&Q to take care of people who are also in my situation.’
Jae Vail, from London Renters Union, told Metro his case is not unique: ‘For Sanjay, he’s disabled, spends time at home and feels trapped. This is totally unacceptable.
‘I’m personally shocked with the amount of our members who have leaks, damp and mould in social, private and temporary housing.
‘Safety is an afterthought for many housing associations, treating tenants like income streams rather than humans.’
Jae points to Awaab’s Law, which is slowly being introduced to protect tenants. That law came about following the two-year-old’s death in December 2020 as a result of prolonged exposure to mould in his Rochdale home.
An inquest said his local housing association failed to take appropriate action.
David Lewis, executive director of Property Services at L&Q, told Metro: ‘Our team is on site at Sanjay’s home, working alongside Thames Water, to carry out repairs.
‘We are also working with the family to move them into temporary accommodation while this work is completed, and will continue to offer ongoing support, including advising Sanjay about future rehousing options.
‘We appreciate Sanjay’s frustrations, given previous reports of leaks and mould, and our team is working hard to identify the root cause of these ongoing issues in the building so we can prevent this happening again.’
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