Hackney mother lost treasured possessions after fire

The washing machine in Ayan Mahdi's flat in Malmsmead House, Homerton, caught fire early on the morning of October 29.

She has since been moved to four different temporary accomodation properties, and still has not been able to move into a new home.

Housing association Sanctuary denies removing her belongings from the fire-ravaged flat, but Ayan believes permission was given for a contractor to dump them.

She said one of her daughters, who is autistic, has been suffering with anxiety due to the stress of the whole situation.

"My daughter started to have physical symptoms of anxiety," she said. "She's not eating, she's not going to sleep, she's got stomach pains, she's got diarrhoea."

Ayan was informed of the fire by Sanctuary at around 3am on October 29 and immediately traveled back to London from Bristol, where she was staying with a friend. 

Ayan's kitchen and many of the items in there were destroyed by the fire. CREDIT: Ayan Mahdi

She was moved into temporary accomodation at the Travelodge in Stratford, where her daughters joined her two days later (October 31).

Two weeks later she was moved to the Travelodge in Hackney and on Friday (December 2) she was moved out and into another hotel in Stratford. 

This week she was sent to another temporary home in Enfield.

It was on November 15 that Ayan returned to her home after the fire to find her possessions gone.

"I can't even begin to explain to you the things that they've thrown away," she said.

"They threw away my wedding dress, my graduation pictures, my children's pictures, my daughter's almost 13... 13 years of memories that I've been keeping are all gone...

"Me and my children have been robbed of a future of having my dress passed down to them. 

"I come from a culture where I never had that. My mum wasn't born here so I never got to see her dress or wear it...

"I don't know how I'm going to tell [my children] that all the pictures, all the books, all the things I've ever collected for them are gone, and I have nothing to pass down to them." 

Ayan said whoever had cleared out her flat had left some photos outside the door on the floor (Image: Ayan Mahdi)

"I might as well have been dead," Ayan added, "because this is how you treat someone who's passed away.

"You don't treat someone who's living like this."

Sanctuary denies throwing the possessions away but Ayan said she gave a spare key to a surveyor from the housing association so that they could assess the damage.

She said her neighbours saw three men, not in uniform, go into her property on November 13 and 14, and leave with some of her possessions, many of which she says were "salvageable".Ayan said she found her fridge in the building's hallway (Image: Ayan Mahdi)

On being moved to the Travelodge in Stratford Ayad said: "It took me two weeks to argue with them to get me back into the borough because I have a disabled child. 

"My daughter is 12 and she's autistic. She has gotten lost before, she gets disorientated very easily.

"She only knows one route and if her routes are changed or something is disturbed, she doesn't know how to reroute herself or to calm down or even how to advocate for herself."

Ayan said she is having to pay for food and travel herself, having been given no money by Sanctuary Housing until she received £40 this week.

Sanctuary Housing said in a statement: "We understand this has been an upsetting time for Ms Mahdi and her family and following the fire we immediately provided them with hotel accommodation. 

"On Friday, November 25 we were pleased to tell the family that we had found another property for them to move into and an appointment has been agreed for them to view it on Wednesday, December 7.

"We will continue to offer the family support over the coming weeks and while we have advised Ms Mahdi we have not removed the personal items mentioned from the fire damaged flat, we will be happy to speak to her again about her concerns."