For five days in March, sewage leaked from the toilet at Nicholas Asbury’s flat in a Thamesmead tower block.

The smell still lingers in his flat despite repeated attempts to clean it, so much so that one of his carers refused to even enter his home.

The aftermath of the sewage leak in the flat of Nicholas Asbury(Image: )

The 53-year-old wants his landlord, housing association Peabody, to fully clean the property in Clydesdale House and rid it of the smell.

He has lived in south Thamesmead home since 2006.

Nick received £680 in compensation from Peabody for the sewage incident, but he considers the money a “bonus for shortening my life” after being recently diagnosed with heart failure.

He said: “Human pathogens ain’t great when you’re living with heart failure. It’s not great for your mental health or anything else. One of my carers refused to even walk through the door.”

All of the carpets in his flat had to be removed following the leak and when a cleaner was sent by Peabody to clean the floor, Nick claimed he had to give over his own mop for them to use. The cleaner used patio cleaning fluid to scrub and remove the remains of the sewage, he claims.

Nick believes that this patio cleaner stripped the concrete of its protective coating which allowed the remaining sewage to leak into the floor, hence the lurking smell.

He added: “They didn’t even clean under the furniture or under the bed. They cleaned around it because they said they weren’t allowed to move the furniture.”

Other flats are ‘riddled with damp’

Despite his sewage problems, Nick still considers himself “lucky” when it comes to living in Clydesdale as he said many of his neighbours live with “terrible” damp.

Aissata Doumbouya lives in Clydesdale with her two children and she claims to have spent £10,000 – much of which she had to borrow – over the years to repeatedly scrub and repaint her flat to eliminate mould after Peabody allegedly refused to help.

Aissata Doumbouya in her flat(Image: )

Even after spending all that money, there is still mould in Aissata’s flat.

At one point, she said she and her children were all sleeping together in the middle of the living room in order to avoid the mould in their bedrooms.

Aissata said: “When these people come, they don’t care. They just say ‘it’s okay for you to leave’. Do you think If I had other options I would live with this? It’s just because we don’t have other options.”

Aissata claims she had to call Peabody “more than 100 times” and that she was often met with “excuses and excuses”.

She also said that she and her family have developed marks all across their skin since living in the flat, something she has put down to the repeated mould problem. Her eldest son has also developed asthma, another thing Aissata blames on the mould.

Clydesdale House is one of several tower blocks on Kale Road in south Thamesmead(Image: )

Ladybirds and silverfish

Tomilola Sekoni lives in another tower block on Kale Road. When the 31-year-old first moved into her flat in 2021, it quickly became infested with ladybirds.

Now she has silverfish coming out of the drains in her bathroom.

She finds them throughout her flat and even in her bed. Tomilola claims Peabody has refused to help her get rid of them.

Tomilola also said her flat was already in a “horrible state” when she moved in and that communal areas in her building are rarely cleaned properly.

She is considering moving back in with her mother due to the problems as she feels “embarrassed” at the state of her flat and she doesn’t even want to invite guests over.

She added: “I’ve been wanting to move [out of the flat] from the first year I moved in. I’m honestly just looking to move out, possibly relocating because getting housing in the area now is very difficult.”

Peabody has apologised for the problems that have sprung up in Clydesdale House and the other tower blocks it looks after in south Thamesmead, stating that the older buildings can be “challenging to manage”.

The not-for-profit housing association also said it had spent around £60m in recent years to maintain its properties in the area.

A spokesperson for Peabody said: “We’re sorry about the issues in and around some of the towers locally.

"The ageing buildings can be challenging to manage but we’re in touch with residents and are carrying out repairs as quickly as we can.

“Keeping homes well maintained and improving services is a priority for us. We’re investing heavily to help ensure residents are warm, comfortable, and safe in their homes, including around £60m maintaining and improving homes in south Thamesmead in recent years.”