A mother of four has claimed her family is living in a "hellhole" flat infested with mice - and even a rat inside her son's bedroom.
Lucie Taylor-Theis says she can't remember the last time she had a full night's sleep after being moved into the temporary accommodation.
The 33-year-old said the tiny property is so small she has to sleep on the sofa and she says it is riddled with rodents.
It is also up several flights of stairs which means she has to lug a pram up and down every day, reports MyLondon.
Now she is pleading for Ealing Council, which placed her in the temporary accommodation, to find her a new home.
Lucie said she was evicted from her last home just before Christmas as the landlord wanted it back.
The local authority found her the temporary flat in Greenford but she says it has so many problems it has left her family feeling stuck and helpless.
Lucie lives with a number of mental health conditions which she says have been exacerbated by her current living situation.
She says the flat is so small there is nowhere to sit for her children, aged nine, three, two, and 10 months.
Lucie said she had injured her shoulder carrying the pram up and down the stairs every day.
She added the family has also been dealing with an ongoing rodent infestation which Lucie claims to have noticed almost as soon as the family moved in, saying they had seen mice in the flat and even a rat in her son's bedroom.
She said: “You can hear them all in the walls.
“I constantly am crying in front of my children. My children are always telling me not to cry. My little girl, she comes and wipes my tears because she constantly sees me crying all the time. It’s so hard.”
The flat Lucie is currently living in belongs to the housing provider Middlesex Group.
Lucie explained that pest control services had visited her flat and blocked some holes to try to eradicate the rodent problem.
To add to the family’s troubles, Lucie has been moved far away from her son’s school and the family members she relies on for support. Because of Lucie’s anxiety, she is unable to travel by public transport so instead has to walk over an hour to reach her son’s school.
Lucie added: “[Ealing Council] knew all of this. I needed to be by my family for support. I'm struggling with getting my son to school and being away from my mum. This situation has affected my mental health in every way.
“I suffer with severe anxiety. I can’t tell you the last time I actually slept the whole night. I’ve been having to sleep on the sofa with my babies. I can’t put my son in a cot, because where his room is at the back, that’s mainly where the mice have been getting in.”
In May last year, Lucie was admitted to a mental health hospital after her previous living situation became too much for her - she is concerned this may happen again if she is not moved somewhere more suitable.
She said: “Things got so on top of me where I was living before, so much that I ended up in hospital.”
Lucie’s mum Mandy Forrestal added: “My daughter has had a terrible time - a really bad time.
"Ealing Council has had numerous letters from all the professionals, psychiatrist, her nurse. You name it, they’ve had it.”
She also described Lucie’s flat as “really, really tiny” and said living there has been like living in a “hellhole”.
Mandy feels frustrated that no one is listening to her daughter’s struggle.
She said: “Lucie’s had a horrendous time. It’s been ongoing for nearly four years now that we’ve been fighting Ealing Council [...] they said all this isn’t a good enough reason to move her. Lucie needs to be moved.”
Both Ealing Council and Middlesex Group were contacted for comment by MyLondon.
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