A family-of-five has lived in a leaking flat in Edgware for nine months because a housing association failed to fix its dilapidated roof.

Agnes Foszcz-Jonkis and her husband Adrian are forced to place cups and bowls around their Nodule Mansion flat, in Telford Road, to catch the relentless drips every time it rains.

Water trickles into the living room through the ceiling light fitting and the kitchen becomes out of bounds during heavy downpours with six separate leaks.

Mother-of-three Agnes, 34, has banned her three children aged one, three and ten from turning on lights or electric plugs around the house for fear they might get electrocuted.

Despite contacting her housing association Metropolitan in September, nothing has been done to fix the issue in the long term.

She said: “It’s a nightmare. They haven’t dealt with it at all. They have just been playing hide and seek. Every time there was no one available and I was told they would call me back but they never did.

“I have to tell my children not to go into the kitchen – it is dangerous. We have always paid our rent and council tax on time, we don’t deserve this.”

The family has repainted the ceiling and walls in their council-owned flat on more than one occasion to hide the increasing mould.

Agnes said: “When the water was running into the flat and dripping down the walls I begged someone to come and have a look but the woman on the phone was so cheeky.

“She just said ‘why don’t you call the fire brigade and they will turn your electricity off’. She asked me what was more important, our electricity or our safety.

“I have sat there crying – I’m getting so frustrated. I feel very unsafe with my children here. It feels like I’m hitting my head against the wall – no one cares and nothing is helping.”

The family wants Metropolitan to fix the leaking roof and is considering demanding compensation due to the fact some of the flat has been uninhabitable for the past nine months.

Agnes added: “We’re paying for full use of flat but we can’t use all of it – it is ridiculous.”

Metropolitan has assessed the faulty roof on two occasions since the issue was first raised and, after being contacted by the Times Series, apologised for the delay in fixing it.

A spokesperson said in a statement: “We take the health and well-being of our residents very seriously and we are very sorry to hear that the resident at Nodule Mansion is experiencing leaks at her property.

“Following an initial assessment, the roof had been scheduled to be replaced in the coming months. However, we are now aware that the situation has deteriorated and have arranged for one of our surveyors to urgently inspect the property and arrange any necessary immediate repairs to be carried out as a temporary solution whilst we arrange for the roof to be replaced.”