Awaab Ishak’s dad welcomes law forcing action over mouldy homes

The father of a two-year-old boy who died after exposure to mould in his home said he felt his social landlord “did not treat him like a human” when he made complaints.

Faisal Abdullah said he told Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) about the mould in his home before his first child, Awaab Ishak, was even born.

The 34-year-old said he continued to complain but no action was taken, and Awaab died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by the severe mould he was exposed to.

Mr Abdullah, who welcomed the introduction of a law forcing landlords to fix mould, said: “I was feeling like [RBH] ignored me…I feel like they treat[ed] me like not human, leaving me in the house.”

The housing provider previously apologised for the way the complaints were handled and said it would “learn hard lessons” after an inquest concluded Awaab died from exposure to mould.

A new set of regulations, known as Awaab’s law, has come into effect following a campaign sparked by the two-year-old’s death.

The regulations compel social landlords to investigate and fix mould in social housing in England within strict timescales.

Mr Abdullah welcomed the changes, and said: “My son struggled a lot and I don’t want any people to go in the same way with his struggle”.

“I’m very happy to at least save a lot of people – they’re not going to go through what I went through.”

Mr Abdullah said Awaab was born prematurely and was kept in hospital for around three weeks.

During this time, he continued to put pressure on RBH to fix the issues with mould, and showed pictures of their home to midwives at the hospital who said they should be moved.

But he said the provider told him the mould was “not a big issue” and so they had a friend come to clean the mould before bringing Awaab home.

“[The mould was] bad again after a couple of months,” he said.

“I keep complaining – they didn’t do anything, they didn’t take action.”

He said his son was a happy and active boy, and they often played with a football together in the park near their house.

“He was a very good kid, a very good son,” he said.

He said the inquest into Awaab’s death confirmed his suspicions that mould exposure had caused his death.

“I thought, this is going to cost my son’s [life],” he said.

“It’s really devastating.”