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“This is not the life I want to be living,” says Sandra Elusade as she gestures around her. “I don’t want to be living in a place like this. I’m embarrassed to invite my friends around.” After nights spent itching, the 38-year-old discovered bed bugs in the South London flat she rents from Wandsworth Council. Disgusted, she’s afraid to fall asleep despite replacing her mattress and the council sending cleaners out, for fear of finding more. But she’s not shocked by the episode. This is just the latest infestation to hit a group of tower blocks in Wandsworth. Right now the pests of choice are bed bugs and ants, but in the past residents have had to live with cockroaches and mice. Sandra has endured 14 years of this in her tower block at Eliot Court. “It’s crazy,” she said. “People are paying rent to live in hell.” Exhausted tenants across Eliot Court, Wentworth Court, Albon House and Edwyn House, all of which are part of the Arndale Estate in Wandsworth, are battling the ants and bed bugs at the moment. Life is made even more difficult by the blocks’ lifts regularly breaking down, an issue that’s routinely trapping people in their own homes across London because repairs are slow. Nearly all residents spoken to on the estate by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) during three visits to the blocks said they were dealing with a type of infestation in their home and had been battling pests for years. The LDRS previously visited Eliot and Wentworth Court in 2022, when residents reported similar issues. Wandsworth Council, which owns and manages the blocks, said it takes residents’ safety “incredibly seriously”. The authority said it completed quarterly pest control treatments at Eliot Court, Wentworth Court and neighbouring block Sudbury House, and these were due to begin soon at Edwyn House. But it feels like a never-ending nightmare for Sandra who recently spent £300 on a new mattress and whose daughter has not been able to live with her for the last two years for health reasons, as she claims asbestos had been found in her flat and there is regular mould. She says they are also waiting for unsafe cladding to be removed from the building, and fear for their safety in the event of a fire. Sandra added: “Literally the building is screaming ‘get rid of me’… it’s literally saying ‘I’m done’, but they’re just holding onto it. That’s why things constantly break down, things don’t work, because it’s just old.” Awaab’s Law, which came into effect on Monday, places a legal requirement on social landlords to fix hazardous issues, which could include pests, within a legally binding timeframe. It was introduced after Awaab Ishak died from mould exposure in his home in Rochdale in December 2020. Abena Kodom-Nymekye, 50, who has lived in Eliot Court for 18 years, also felt she had been constantly fighting pests without the council permanently resolving the issues. Ms Kodom-Nymekye said: “It’s terrible and the funny thing is you don’t get help from no-one, so literally you have to fight it and you don’t know where it’s coming from… sometimes you see them crawling on the walls, you don’t know where they’re coming from, so it’s a constant battle.” The resident told the LDRS she felt the building should be rebuilt due to the state it was in. She said: “If you’ve really studied the building, you can see it’s falling apart. It’s so soaked, like paint and everything ripping off, because there’s so much water in the building, so the ideal thing is to redo everything. But it’s just patch and go, patch and go, which is not solving anything.” A petition to the council in 2022 urged it to take “immediate action to eradicate a chronic and long-standing pest infestation in Eliot and Wentworth Courts and find a long-term and permanent solution to this recurring problem”. A similar petition was presented to the authority in 2018. The LDRS also spoke to residents from the top to bottom floors of Edwyn and Albon House, on Neville Gill Close, behind Wentworth and Eliot Court, with nearly all tenants reporting an ant infestation. They said ants crawled everywhere and would come out in greater numbers when they were cooking. One mum, who wished to remain anonymous, moved into Edwyn House 16 years ago and said there were ants all over her flat, despite constantly cleaning them away. She described living in the block as “difficult, always cleaning, moving things around to get rid of the ants and then there are just more and more and more, [I] don’t know where they come from”. The mum added: “It’s like torture because I have to check my children before they walk outside to make sure that they haven’t got ants on their clothes, and stuff like that, because they’re everywhere. If you pack things up in a bag and tie it, they’re still there. My daughter cries about it all the time and she’s 20.” From people who had recently moved in to long-term residents, tenants in Albon House also reported ant infestations. “I noticed they’re coming from the kitchen, from the skirting boards, because we have tiny holes and they are coming from there,” said Fady Abdalla, 28, who only moved into his flat in February. He said: “I think it’s an important problem to sort out because then you get bites and stuff. It’s not nice.” Eleanor Amissah, 32, noticed ants a month after moving into her flat three years ago. “You have to keep spraying and it’s not really good for the kids,” the mum said. “Nothing works, to be honest with you.” Usuf Mohammed, 22, said he had lived in the block his whole life, and claimed ants became an issue around five years ago. “Ants are everywhere – the bathroom walls, the kitchen seals, running up and down – literally everywhere,” he said. Another major issue reported by residents was the 21-storey block’s lifts regularly breaking down. Memuna Amankwa, 52, said she had to sleep in her car in May as the lifts were not working and she is disabled, while she had also been left stranded or had to sleep at friends’ homes due to the issue. Albon, Edwyn, Knowles and Sudbury House were built as part of the development of Wandsworth Arndale Centre in the 1970s, which was later refurbished to become Southside Shopping Centre, along with Eliot and Wentworth Court. The council said it is carrying out a £21million fire safety improvement project in Eliot and Wentworth Court, including cladding removal, and hoped to begin works in summer next year. A Wandsworth Council spokesperson apologised for the ongoing pest issues and said residents should “continue to report any further issues so our pest control teams can attend and take action”. They added: “We’re sorry that the lift failures at Eliot Court have caused distress particularly for residents with disabilities, mobility challenges, and caring responsibilities. There are two lifts that serve the building, and it is rare that both lifts are unable to be used at the same time. “They are in the process of being replaced but due to the height of the building, we require approval from the Building Safety Regulator. Once we receive this approval, the work can begin. If any residents require assistance, they can contact the Joint Control Centre (JCC) 24 hours a day and our Estates Services team are on hand around the clock. “We are embarking on a £21 million fire safety improvement project in the buildings, and a state-of-the-art integrated fire alarm system was installed earlier this year for further safety. These works include cladding removal and will also require approval from the Building Safety Regulator. We are hopeful that this can begin next year.”
