It started two weeks ago — Thursday 8 May — with the sound of dripping. Then came the smell. Since then, it hasn’t stopped.
Inside a vertical stack of flats on the Alton Estate in Roehampton, families have been living with waste water leaking from ceilings, walls, and kitchen fittings. The source appears to be a broken or blocked waste pipe running through the building. The liquid — brown, foul, and believed to contain sewage — gets worse in the evenings and at weekends, when neighbours are home and using sinks, toilets and showers.
Residents – a mix of council tenants and private renters – have now endured 14 days of this with no repair, no explanation, and no help.
“It’s so disgusting,” said one resident. “My son was cooking and had to throw the food away because water started dripping into it.” They taped recycle bags to keep the constant drips away from the food prep area and prevent splashes.
She and her family are using buckets and bins to catch the liquid. Towels are washed two or three times a day just to control the smell. “When it’s bad, we’re emptying the buckets three or four times a day,” she said. “We just want to come home and relax. But we can’t. We’re exhausted.”
Her son is now sleeping in the living room. His bedroom smells too strongly to use.
Water from above, silence from the council
Despite emergency callouts and multiple visits from council contractors, tenants say they are still in the dark about what’s causing the leak or when it will be fixed. One was told repeatedly by the council’s Western Area Team that an update would be provided. “They just come in, take pictures, and leave. Then nothing,” she said.
In the meantime, residents have been forced to buy buckets, absorbent pads, and cleaning supplies themselves. Some have noticed small flies, a possible sign of stagnant water in the system. The inside and outside windows of the flats are streaked with dirty water stains; walls and ceilings are pockmarked.
“This is not rainwater,” one resident told Putney.news, asking to remain anonymous. “This is from inside the waste pipes. It’s disgusting — it drips into our food, into the carpets. I’m scared for my health. I don’t know what more we’re supposed to do.”
Tenants say they’ve contacted everyone they can: local councillors, MP Fleur Anderson, council leader Simon Hogg. Emails have been acknowledged — then passed back down to the same Western Area Team that residents say isn’t responding.
“They say they’ll escalate. They say they’ll call back. Then nothing,” said another tenant. “We feel like ping pong balls.”
It is not an isolated incident. Just this week Wandsworth Council was the subject of a damning Housing Ombudsman report focused on a case where a roof leak on the All Saints Estate was ignored for an extraordinary four years.
The Ombudsman found “severe maladministration” on the council’s part, noting it had failed to act on escalating complaints, triggering wider reforms and highlighting deeper issues with oversight, accountability, and how the council handles disrepair.
The Ombudsman said he hoped the report would force Wandsworth Council to rethink its approach: on the Alton Estate there is little evidence of that happening and several tenants we spoke to were fearful of speaking out in case they upset the wrong people and jeopardised their housing arrangements. “The council is just awful,” one longstanding tenant told us. “They play games.”
A familiar story
The current leak is affecting multiple households on the same corner of the block, from the first floor all the way up to the top. But neighbours say this is not the first time — or even the worst.
One resident, who experienced a similar flood months ago, said water soaked her children’s room and the carpets in multiple areas of the flat. It took the council five to six months to respond. “The water got into the cupboards, my kids’ room. We still have wall damage. And even now, they haven’t made it right.”
Two floors above her, Geraldine — a long-time resident who moved into the block as a child — recalled two floods in her own flat. “One of them was faeces,” she said. “It took them three years to fix everything properly. Three years.”
She also said her electrics were damaged – but after she refused to sign a document that she says asked her to accept responsibility, couldn’t get an appointment to get the flat fixed. Later on, council representatives told her neighbours she’d refused access to inspectors. “They left a card when I wasn’t in, then told people I didn’t let them in. It’s not true.”
The flat underneath hers sits empty. The kitchen is partially dismantled. Geraldine says the former tenant moved out “because of the constant flooding.”
“We’re doing more to protect this flat than the landlord is”
Tenants say the pattern is clear: this section of the building has a history of plumbing failures, and the council knows it. “They patched it up last time,” said one resident. “Now it’s back. And worse.”
One of the private renters told us the landlord never told them about the plumbing problems and that they had just signed a two-year lease for the flat. “We feel trapped in here,” she told us, holding back tears.
There has been no offer of cleaning help, no hazard assessment, and no compensation for damaged possessions. Residents say they’ve had to manage it all themselves.
“We’re trying to keep things clean, but it’s impossible,” said one tenant. “You’re standing there making food and there’s this water — it’s filthy. We don’t know what’s in it.”
Some tenants have stopped using whole rooms. Others are afraid to leave the flat in case the leak worsens while they’re out. “It’s affecting every part of our lives,” one woman said. “We come home from work, and instead of resting, we’re dealing with sewage. It’s a full-time job.”
Fear, fatigue, and being forgotten
The emotional toll is rising. One tenant said she has been “battling with her own mental and physical health” because of the leak — and the lack of response. “We’ve been incredibly patient. But the impact is real,” she said. “The smell, the unknown risks, the complete silence from the people who are meant to fix it.”
She added that many tenants, particularly those renting directly from the council, feel unable to speak publicly. “We want to build a good relationship with the council. But they also have a duty of care.”
Tenants also expressed frustration with the council estate manager responsible for the block. Several described her as difficult to reach and unhelpful — and said she has now been off sick for over a week. Emails to her reportedly remain unread. Council staff, residents say, say they have been unable to access her inbox.
Protected buildings, unprotected residents
The block is one of five identical slab buildings on the Alton Estate’s western edge — designed in the 1950s as part of a bold vision for social housing. The buildings are now Grade II* listed for their architectural significance. But while the structures are protected, residents say they feel anything but.
Much of the estate was earmarked for regeneration under a now-defunct plan by developer Redrow, which pulled out in 2020. Since then, the future of the estate has remained unclear — and residents say repairs are inconsistent and temporary.
In 2023, local campaigners warned that parts of the estate were being allowed to deteriorate. “It feels like they’re just waiting for things to break,” one said. “They’re not investing — they’re managing decline.”
Photos and videos show brown water pooling beneath the building and visibly seeping from the structure, hundreds of drips every minute right across the underside of the structure — a clear sign that the leak is ongoing and possibly worsening.
Tenants say the smell is strongest at night. “You wake up and the room stinks,” said one. “It’s worse when the neighbours get home and use the kitchen or the bathroom. That’s when it starts to pour.”
Putney.news has contacted Wandsworth Council for comment and will update this story with any response.
Are you experiencing problems similar to the ones mentioned in this story? Damp, water leaks, filthy areas that aren’t cleaned, and the council failing to respond? If so, we want to hear from you. Just fill in this online form and we will get back.
