A family who have withheld rent due to their home "falling to pieces" around them are now facing homelessness as the council threatens them with eviction.
Full-time carer Marie McManus and her family owe £4,000 to Lambeth Council over their home, which is in need of multiple repairs.
The 38-year-old shares temporary accommodation in Brixton Hill, south London, with her mum Agnes, 67, who recently suffered a stroke, and brothers Chris, 33, and 31-year-old Adam.
The family moved into their current flat in 2018 whilst their home rented from the council nearby underwent repairs.
But the four found themselves out of the frying pan and into the fire after problems with damp and mould soon presented themselves in the temporary home.
Marie has described the situation as an "utter joke", with both Adam and Chris having had to sleep with fungus growing just inches from their pillows, MyLondon reports.
Despite an independent surveyor concluding Lambeth Council was "in breach of their duty", the family's problems have persisted.
Soon after Marie says she got a series of texts from Lambeth Repair Services in February 2022 to say the work had been done, but she was left fuming as no one had even turned up to the house.
Lambeth Council apologised then promised to send contractors over.
But the spat continued when Marie starred on BBC show 'Rip Off Britain', when surveyors told the show that the landlords should act "immediately" over nasty mushrooms growing on the ceiling.
"That means there's a lot of water coming in from somewhere, they need to find out where it's coming from, fix it, dry it, and fix the damage caused by it," the surveyor said.
The authority apologised again, committing to more repairs.
Now, after four eviction notices on both properties, Marie is withholding rent as she believes their old house they are waiting on is still "uninhabitable" due to cracked ceilings, unfinished floors, a broken door, an overgrown garden, and mould under the kitchen sink.
The council meanwhile has said their property has been "ready and waiting" for some time.
Marie says her family is unable to carry out the work that needs doing and points out it is her landlord's responsibility to make the house somewhere she can live and care for her family.
She also claims a surveyor who attended the house said it might have rising damp - an issue where moisture seeps into the walls potentially weakening the building.
This came as she got a letter from Thames Water in February alerting her to the possibility of a major leak at the house, with 20 litres of water flowing through the meter at a cost of £364 a year.
"It's just a complete damn joke," she said.
"They signed off the house as being habitable when it is not. My mum is now very stressed at the real possibility of taking it to court and they say hand over the property.
"I feel like I have let down my family, I have done everything I possibly can and it's not good enough.
"Let's take it to a judge and see what Your Honour has to say about the whole damn situation.
"In my opinion this whole situation is Lambeth's fault. If it was not in disrepair in the first place we would not be fighting them. And then the insult to put us in another property in disrepair for another five years."
The council, Marie claims, have already tried to evict her, before she successfully stood her ground arguing the property was uninhabitable.
She claims she now intends to counter claim against any possession order on the property and will let the courts decide if her whole family will be made homeless.
In March, Housing Secretary Michael Gove wrote to Lambeth Council blasting them for the "completely unacceptable" way it has dealt with other complaints and repairs.
Mr Gove said he was "appalled" to see three maladministration cases investigated by the Housing Ombudsman, including a case of damp and mould and a disabled man left without a toilet for weeks.
Responding to Marie's claims, a spokesperson for Lambeth Council said: "We have worked to resolve a number of problems identified at both of these homes for several months, and to ensure that the issues reported to us are attended to.
"We have now carried out a comprehensive programme of repairs to the family’s original home, and to the temporary accommodation we provided for them at Saxby Road.
“We have apologised for any distress Mrs McManus and her family have experienced in the meantime.
"However, the required repairs to the family’s permanent home have been completed, and it has been ready and waiting for them to move back into for some time.
"The family have declined to return to their original home, and they have been given the highest priority to bid for another council property."
