Leaseholders and tenants at Precision House in Wood Street have battled flooding, regularly out of service lifts, and ‘maddening silence’ from their landlord Waltham Forest Council, reports Marco Marcelline

Shared ownership resident Tahara Barzegar

Residents living in a new-build block of flats in Wood Street, Walthamstow say they have faced a catalogue of issues including leaks, flooding, lifts breaking down, as well as antisocial behaviour since they moved in.

When Precision House was completed by construction firm The Hill Group in November 2024, Waltham Forest Council hailed it as a flagship “100% affordable housing scheme”, proudly stating that four in ten of the flats (29 of 67) were for social rent, with the remaining being for shared ownership tenants.

Council leader Grace Williams said at the time: “The quality of these homes is second to none and [they] have been designed to be environmentally sustainable and lower people’s energy bills.”

Tahara Barzegar was initially satisfied with her move into Precision House in August 2025, with it being her first solo apartment.

She says: “I was so excited to move into this flat; it’s my first ever purchase, and I genuinely love living in Walthamstow. I never thought I’d be able to get my foot on the housing ladder, so the fact that I can say I actually own a part of this flat, and potentially eventually all of it, is something so special.”

The honeymoon soon faded, however, as Tahara began to notice the building’s two lifts were regularly breaking down.

From late October through November, a WhatsApp group for tenants on her floor was constantly updated with the status of the lifts; residents would write that a lift had stopped working, before another tenant would chime in, either hours or a day later, to say it was fine to use again.

Both lifts in the eleven-storey building were out of service for an entire weekend in November, Tahara says, leaving a young mum on her floor having to make her young children crawl up and down the stairs as she was unable to carry them.

The lift issues were made worse, Tahara says, by “almost non-existent” communication from the council regarding misrepairs. Under a two-year warranty signed with freeholder Waltham Forest that expires this November, Hill Group is liable for most repair problems. However, Tahara adds the firm regularly denied responsibility, leaving residents in a “state of complete confusion and frustration”.

The Echo understands that one of the lifts has been functioning without issue since its control panel part was replaced by contractors in late November.

However, according to a shared ownership resident who asked not to be named, the second lift is still out of service because the supplier for a replacement part has missed two deadlines.

This part is due to be delivered and installed tomorrow (17th January), he said, adding that this repair update was not sent en-masse to all residents but to an individual tenant instead.

In addition to the lifts breaking down, constant leaks in the ground floor last month eventually resulted in water pouring down from a hole in the ceiling, flooding an entire corridor.

A video of flooding near the ground floor lobby last month, Credit: Provided by resident

When the Echo visited Precision House on Friday 9th January, muddied puddles of water were present across the lobby and ground floor corridor which leads to the communal garden at the back of the building.

Weeks of leaks, believed to be caused by a serious pipework blockage, appear to have been resolved on Tuesday (13th January), when contractors arrived to dig a hole in the back garden to get to the sewage mains.

The hole in the ceiling which water poured out of

In addition to broken lifts and persistent leaks, Tahara says residents have been unable to see how much heating they are using because monitors inside their homes haven’t been working for several months.

An issue with a council-controlled router has left the monitors offline, with residents concerned that they could end up having seriously overpaid when the monitors eventually come back online.

Kalliope Costa moved into her shared ownership flat in Precision House in March 2025 and says she only began encountering issues in the past few months.

She says: “It seems to have really deteriorated quite quickly; my main concern is, if this building isn’t maintained and it already looks like this after six months, what will it look like in another six months?”

In September, shared ownership residents including Kalliope received a letter from the council’s home ownership officer stating that they owed £4,277 in outstanding rent and service charges.

The letter warned residents that it was “imperative” they clear the outstanding amount or they would be “breaking their lease agreement”.

A panicked Kalliope, who had been consistently paying £139 a month in service charges since she moved in, rang the council demanding clarity, and was later told that the letter was sent in error.

Reflecting on the saga, she told the Echo: “I’ve got a hectic and stressful job and I don’t want to come back home and see all these issues; it’s exhausting. All I want is consistent and actual communication from the council; they don’t tell us anything.”

Antisocial behaviour has also blighted the building, Tahara and Kalliope both say. Alongside dealing with rampant parcel thefts, residents were forced to clean up vomit from a communal staircase one weekend.

Councilllors Grace Williams, Ahsan Khan, and Vicky Ashworth opened the building in November 2024, Credit: Waltham Forest Council

Tahara told the Echo: “This is a building with real potential, and I genuinely love living in this area. But what’s been hardest [to deal with] isn’t that repairs are needed, it’s the silence.

“When things go wrong, there’s no clear communication about what’s happening, who’s responsible, how long it will take, or whether costs will be pushed onto residents.

“Living with that uncertainty is exhausting. It leaves me feeling ignored, anxious, and constantly on edge in my own home. I’m not trying to cause problems, I just want someone to acknowledge us, explain what’s going on, and listen.

“I would really welcome the chance to sit down with the building management team and council leader Grace Williams so we can work together to restore this building to the standard it deserves. Understanding what’s happening, why it’s happening, and when it will be resolved would make all the difference.”

Councillor Ahsan Khan, deputy leader and cabinet member for housing and regeneration, apologised to the residents of Precision House for the problems they have experienced.

He told the Echo: “We are working closely with our contractor Hill Group, who is responsible for most maintenance and repairs until November 2026, to make sure these issues are resolved.

“We will shortly be setting up a meeting with residents to discuss any management issues or concerns they have. I am pleased that the leak affecting the lobby was fixed on Tuesday 13th January.

“The council is aware that some shared ownership residents received a letter containing incorrect information in September 2025. We have already spoken to those affected to say sorry for the error.”

A spokesperson for Hill Group said: “We are committed to providing high-quality homes for residents across all of our developments, and we are working closely with Waltham Forest Council to address any remedial issues at Precision House that fall within our contractual responsibilities.”

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