'I became so ill due to mould in my new-build that doctors suspected I had cancer'

EXCLUSIVE: 'I became so ill due to mould in my new-build that doctors suspected I had cancer' EXCLUSIVE: Maja Klaczynska, 33, says she 'lost everything' after been forced out of her home in Silvertown, East London as she opened up on her health battle and the lasting impact A woman claims she became so ill due to the black mould in her new-build home that doctors were concerned she could have cancer. Maja Klaczynska was forced to move out of her property as the the condition of the apartment made it uninhabitable. The 33-year-old, who owns 30 per cent of her flat in Silvertown, East London, went to see her GP after she started suffering "horrendous" headaches and joint pain. Despite also having a constant cough and a fever, doctors were unable to diagnose what was causing her sickness and sent her for CT and PET scans as they suspected she may have leukaemia or lymphoma - though fortunately that turned out not to be the case. The management consultant moved into her flat in July 2022, fulfilling her dream of owning a home in London after moving to the UK from Poland to study when she was 18. But she says she walked out with just the clothes she was wearing, claiming all her possessions were covered with mould. She told the Mirror: “I dreamt of owning my own home and what has happened over the past three and a half years has left me devastated. “During that time I started to get sick with the most horrendous joint pain and headaches. I was coughing all the time and was suffering from fatigue and night sweats, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me and thought it might be cancer, which thankfully it wasn’t." Maja spotted a crack in her bath when she moved in which prompted her to look into whether there was mould in the flat. She claimed that several inspections were carried out but she was told there was nothing that wrong with the property that could account for her illness. She said: “I was alone, with no family around me and terrified that I was living in a flat that could kill me.” Maja is now taking legal action against the landlord through dispute resolution specialists Hodge Jones & Allen. She claims Peabody Trust officials and a builder dismissed her suggestion the reason for her sickness could be mould. She added: “When I moved in I pointed out the crack and the Peabody representative said it would be fixed in a couple of days. That is when my nightmare began. After several months of delay, they sent a guy with no tools to assess the flat, but to his credit he did say the crack in the bath was deep and reported it." Maja decided to employ her own experts who discovered black mould in the bathroom, kitchen and in the walls. “It was devastating to hear that the amount of mould in the flat was off the scale,” she said. Maja went on to claim: "After I got the mould report they sent around a Peabody employee who decided to open up the walls and this revealed black mould everywhere.” Maja moved out of her home in October 2023 and was placed in temporary accommodation of three hotels and serviced apartments until October last year when she was eventually permitted to move in with her partner. Maja said. "I lost everything and had been forced out of my home. It has been a nightmare from start to finish.” A spokesperson for Peabody said: “We’re very sorry for the impact this has had on Maja. “We completely understand how upsetting it must be to move into a new home and then have these problems, and to spend such a long time living away from it. “The repairs were finished in January. As this was a new home, the builder was responsible for putting things right. While this was happening, we arranged alternative accommodation and stayed in regular contact with Maja.” Bahareh Amani, partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, who represents Maja, claimed their client was due compensation from Peabody over their experience. They went on: "It is down to her incredible resilience that she is still fighting, and we are determined to get her some form of justice for what she has been through.”