Wandsworth Council still will not say what it did to fix the raw sewage that flooded flats in Denmead House, more than a year after the leaks began. The information watchdog is now investigating its refusal.
The Information Commissioner’s Office, which enforces Freedom of Information (FOI) law, has opened a formal case into whether the council can lawfully keep its repair record secret. The regulator cannot order the pipes fixed. But its involvement is proof the matter has not gone away, and residents say the water never stopped.
The council released its own log of sewage and water complaints at the block. It has refused, twice, to release any record of what it then did about them, arguing each time that answering would cost too much (FOI requests are cost-limited). Residents can see how often their homes flooded but they still cannot see whether the council fixed the cause.
When Putney.news first reported the leaks in May 2025, raw waste water was pouring into flats from the ground floor to the top, and had been for nearly two weeks. One long-standing resident described an earlier flood, one of them faecal, that took three years to put right. The emergency repair came only after we reported it, when a contractor stopped the immediate leak on 23 May, two days after this publication told the council a story was coming. Weeks later a crack appeared in a structural panel beneath the building, the undercroft was cordoned off, and a replacement panel was fitted without explanation.
Denmead House is not an ordinary council block. It is Grade II* listed, one of five identical modernist slab blocks on Highcliffe Drive, so even routine structural work needs special heritage consent.
Last week, we visited the blocks again and found the same problem signs: water pooling at the base of its support columns, and water damage in ceiling tiles at three of the five blocks. The council has refused to engage with us or with residents over what it is doing to fix the persistent issues – which have been reported for years.
Its refusal to supply work lists even though they are easily and quickly produced by the council through its management software is a red flag that the council may be aware that its efforts are insufficient.
13 months and still no answer
The paper trail is its own story. We asked for the leak and repair records on 21 May 2025, and the council refused on cost grounds. A narrower request, resubmitted, was refused again on the same grounds. At an internal review in September, the council disclosed the log of complaints but withheld the record of repairs. Putney.news complained to the regulator in October. The case was finally handed to an investigating officer on 17 June 2026, and will examine whether the cost exemption applies at all, and whether the council gave proper help and answered in time.
The question the regulator is asking, in effect, is whether Wandsworth can produce its own repair records. It is not the first time it has struggled to find its own paperwork. The Housing Ombudsman has repeatedly found the council at fault over leaks and poor record-keeping, part of a documented pattern we have reported before, including one ruling in which it could not produce the work orders at all. Denmead House is not an outlier.
At the same estate, the council is selling a different story. It has approved a “decade of renewal” worth £52.3 million in 2026/27, including £19.5 million for a new community building at Portswood Place. It has also said some Alton blocks may face demolition and others retrofit, which raises a fair question about whether Denmead is being left to decline while its future is decided.
If you live in these blocks, we want to hear from you
We put the investigation and a series of questions to Wandsworth Council, asking what repairs have been carried out since May 2025, who did them and when, the current state of the cordoned-off panel, and whether the neighbouring blocks show the same water damage. We have yet to receive a response.
Do you live in Denmead House, or in Binley, Winchfield, Dunbridge or Charcot House, the identical blocks beside it? Have you had sewage, leaks, damp or repair delays, recently or over the years, and how has the council dealt with you? Contact us in confidence at news@putney.news or through our contact form.
There are other routes, too. Residents can complain to the council as their landlord, which must give a first response within 10 working days, and can take an unresolved complaint to the Housing Ombudsman, an independent service that can order repairs or compensation at no cost. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the council must keep the structure, drains and pipework in repair. Denmead House sits in Roehampton ward, whose three Labour councillors, Graeme Henderson, Matthew Tiller and Jenny Yates, can take the matter up on residents’ behalf.
