Denise Batty and her daughter Rosa

A FAMILY are being bounced around temporary accommodation after their new-build council home was flooded by sewage.

The flat in Typesetter Court in Old Street has been fraught with issues since Denise Batty’s family of four moved in 2022, including a leaking balcony light which made the outdoor space unusable and three other backflow incidents.

After a few days away over the last weekend of July, Ms Batty arrived home to find her ­family’s flat flooded with sewage and faeces which had come up through the toilet, bath and washing machine.

“As I opened my door, there was just the water and the sewage everywhere and I just cried my eyes out,” she told the Tribune.

“All my oak furniture and curtains had soaked up the sewage. It was just horrendous.”

A plumber eventually found the suspected cause of the issue – an old mop handle stuck in the pipes, something Ms Batty said would have been found earlier had the council done the right surveys.

The sewage comes up through the bath and the toilet

Ms Batty said she contacted the council but was told she may have to wait up to 24 hours for help to be dispatched. She contacted Islington’s contractor herself to chase up a response. Since then, Ms Batty, her husband and her two daughters aged six and 11 have been moved around hotel rooms and unsuitable flats as the council struggles to find appropriate temporary housing within the borough.

When she complained to the council, Ms Batty said she was offered a “homeless shelter in Hornsey Road or the street.”

The girls have had to leave most of their toys and other belongings in the flooded flat and Ms Batty’s eldest daughter Rosa’s first few weeks of secondary school have been marred by the chaos.

Ms Batty told the Tribune that on multiple occasions, she has been left without a confirmed place to stay that night until late afternoon.

“I shouldn’t even be speaking to contractors. But I just know if I don’t do that, I won’t get anywhere,” she said.

The flood-sodden carpet

Since the family vacated the Old Street property, a team was sent to rip up flooring throughout the flat.

During this work, the family’s belongings were piled up on surfaces and furniture, and Ms Batty said that means many items not touched by the sewage water have now had contact with contaminated items.

Ms Batty has lived in Islington her whole life and said older buildings in the borough never had this level of issues.

“I’d never, ever want to go back into a new build again in my life,” she added. “Life in itself is stressful. Just having kids and a full-time job is a lot.

“But they’re saying to me, ‘it’s not possible to get you in your area’, but I’m thinking, ‘but I’ve been shunted out of my area because of you. I haven’t done anything wrong’.”

Islington’s housing chief Councillor Jason Jackson said: “We want everyone in Islington to have a decent, safe, well-maintained place to call home.

“We are sorry for the damage caused to Ms Batty’s home by the backsurge, and for starting the clean-up before all of her possessions had been removed, causing some further damage. We will ensure she is compensated for this, and will shortly resume work on repairs.

“We have offered the family a number of temporary accommodation options, some of which were declined because they were not in Islington.

“We have remained in regular contact with Miss Batty throughout the search for suitable longer-term temporary accommodation. We work hard to be as helpful as we can and understand these situations are often stressful, but options were exceptionally limited over the August period.”

He added: “While we have added more than 850 homes to the supply of temporary accommodation in Islington since 2022 through purchasing ex-Right To Buy properties, there is still a severe shortage, with already high demand rising further.”