Family’s Move to Ravenscourt Park Turns into Nightmare
Defective cooker first of a whole range of problems with flat
Kelly Butler and Ashley Dudman. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon
April 3, 2026
A family who have faced months of leaks, damp and mould in their Ravenscourt Park home have spoken about the toll the stress has taken on their wellbeing.
Kelly Butler, 38, who lives with her partner Ashley Dudman, 41, and daughter, 8, said the family also spent weeks unknowingly using a gas cooker which had been flagged as defective after moving into the flat last summer. Ms Butler said she has been chasing her housing provider, Notting Hill Genesis, for works to be completed and has also filed a complaint with the Ombudsman.
After being contacted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Notting Hill Genesis sent a surveyor to the flat with contractors to visit and complete repairs this week. While the update is welcome, Ms Butler said, “Eight months of being ignored. One week of press involvement. That says everything.”
A spokesperson for Notting Hill Genesis apologised for the delays to the repairs, though flagged they do now have a plan in place to fix up the property.
Ms Butler said the family relocated to their current home last July as part of a mutual exchange. However, it did not take long before they began noticing issues with the flat. These included damage to the door and windows, from their lounge to the balcony, and a leak from a property upstairs.
It was the gas cooker in their kitchen, however, which led to the most concern in those early months.
Ms Butler said the family had been using the stove top quite regularly when cooking and had noticed a fairly potent smell.
It was not until several weeks later that they discovered a document in a drawer which made clear the appliance was defective and should not be used, with an inspection appearing to have been conducted just before they moved in.
She told the LDRS: “We noticed that when using the cooker it was smelling of gas and I was thinking, ‘that’s quite potent, why does it smell so bad?’ We just assumed that because it’s a gas cooker it was going to smell more, because we’re not used to it; we always had electric.”
Damage caused by damp in the flat. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon
Ms Butler said Notting Hill Genesis told them they were not aware of the document before the family raised it, but she said nothing has been done in the months following to resolve the problem.
Since then Ms Butler said there have been cases of damp and mould, which she has flagged to the housing provider, with the flat also suffering from poor ventilation. She added that the family have seen mice in the property, and that they are concerned one may have gotten caught and died in the bathroom.
Ms Butler has asthma and her daughter breathing difficulties, both of which they say have been aggravated by the condition of the property.
Ms Butler said she is also undergoing medical investigations after finding a lump on the same breast where she previously had cancer as a teenager.
Kelly Butler and Ashley Dudman interview. Video: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon
The primary concern, however, is the impact on Mr Dudman, who has health conditions including scleroderma, an autoimmune condition that affects his immune system and connective tissue, and means he has a lung capacity of just 50 per cent.
Mr Dudman, who also has hip arthritis, said, “We’ve been here nearly a year now and we’ve been fighting this since we first moved in. So, we’ve been fighting this for a whole year and still nothing’s getting done.”
Ms Butler added the stress on the family has grown as the issues have mounted up.
She said: “I work full-time, I do two days in the office. We’ve got a child as well. So that’s a lot of responsibility. But then Ashley unfortunately has got his health issues, I’m obviously trying to upkeep the home as a family, but then in the same breath I’m trying to look after Ashley. Trying to look after our daughter. And I’ve only been here for nearly a year. And we’re not getting anywhere.”
Ms Butler added: “Everything is just made difficult, and they’re just not doing anything about it. And then you’ve got the fact that whatever’s going on in that kitchen, the sink and all that area, that’s all leaking.”
Ms Butler said a contractor, PiLON, visited the property earlier this year and compiled a report outlining a plan to resolve the problems raised. She said she understands this was passed on to Notting Hill Genesis but that it had yet to be signed off.
Following the LDRS’s enquiries this week the provider has sent a surveyor to the home with contractors due to carry out repairs.
Ms Butler, however, said the situation has gone “far beyond inconvenience” and had a “serious impact on our health and daily lives”.
“What this situation clearly demonstrates is that without escalating this to the press, the Ombudsman, the Mayor, and our local councillor all at the same time, we would likely still be waiting.”
“No family should have to fight this hard to live in a safe and habitable home,” she added.
A Notting Hill Genesis spokesperson said, “We are genuinely sorry that Ms Butler and her family have had to wait so long for these repairs to be completed. We should have been more responsive to the problems when they were reported, and we are reviewing internally what we can do in the future to make sure that we achieve our target timescales to complete repairs when residents raise concerns.
“We have a repair plan in place for Ms Butler’s home, to resolve every issue identified by surveyors, and work is due to begin this week subject to the resident’s availability.
“We are committed to providing every resident with a warm and comfortable place to live and are investing £1 billion over 10 years to improve our homes across London and the South East.
“We will continue to work with Ms Butler and her family to ensure they are happy with the work and that it meets their expectations. To prevent undue disruption, the family should be able to stay in their home while the works take place.”
Ben Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter