'It feels like the landlord has abused us in their treatment'

DAD OF FAMILY HITS OUT AFTER BEING TOLD TO LET HIM EVICT THEM

- By PHILIP JAMES LYNCH

A VULNERABLE family-of-three living in a mouldy annex in west London were told by their landlord to let him evict them so they could approach the council for a bigger property.

Ali Hersi lives in the home, which is an annex to a house in Southall, with his wife and teenage daughter and claims the conditions are exacerbating their health problems, which include asthma.

While Ealing Council has now ordered repairs to be made to the property following a visit by officers, Mr Hersi’s landlord, Mohammed Salim Mussa, had encouraged the family not to let the council workers in. He also suggested they could get a bigger property from the council by letting him evict them and presenting as homeless.

A recording made by the family in October 2024 and shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) indicates that the landlord told the family he had nowhere bigger than a studio property to move them to while the works are carried out to address the mould issues, and that "only the council will give you a two-bedroom straight away".

Mr Hersi, 66, lives with heart failure, diabetes, and is on kidney dialysis. He told the LDRS: "I feel like we've been treated inhumanely. The worst is because I wasn’t able to do anything about it, it makes me feel really bad.

"I feel like my life is in a bad state... it feels like the landlord abused us in terms of how he treated us. We also received no help from the local authority, the landlord wasn’t helping - I felt stuck."

In the recording, Mr Mussa says: "What I'm saying is yeah, tell the council that ‘look, we need to move, then you can repair’ - simple. Then I can speak to them, I'll tell them the same thing... tomorrow what we will do is we'll give you the notice for you guys to move - finished. Then, they can’t do anything [inaudible]."