East Acton Flat Residents Furious at Loss of Water Supply

Pregnant mother among those forced to temporarily move

The Tabbard Apartments are managed by First Port. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon

April 8, 2025

A pregnant mother is one of many in over 200 flats in East Acton who spent four days recently without any water. Residents of Tabbard Apartments on East Acton Lane were unable to wash, use the toilet, or drink water following damage to a pipe last Friday (28 March).

Many residents had to fork out cash to stay in a hotel or Airbnb as they could not afford to spend the days without water. Building managers First Port provided water in water tanks three days later, however this was in ‘dangerous’ locations, or ‘too far away’ from flats for some to access regularly.

Maria Moreno Morales is eight months pregnant and has a four-year-old child. She had to pay over £700 to stay in an Airbnb.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service [LDRS], “The lack of water has severely impacted my health and well-being, adding to an already stressful situation.

“We had to go and collect water from the tank each time to flush the toilet. It’s impossible for me to get to the water tank, when my husband is working in the daytime, there is no option for me.”

She added, “It’s been so hard. Three weeks ago, I found out I am at risk of pre-term labour and I was told to rest, but I’ve been stressed and displaced. As a family we didn’t plan for these expenses. We told First Port our personal situation and received no response.”

First Port says bottled water and a water tank were available from Saturday (March 30) for residents to use, however one resident says she did not receive an email notifying her of this until Sunday (March 31). Additionally, residents were not provided alternative accommodation until Monday, and were told to receive compensation they had to stay in a Premier Inn.

Residents say that the water provided by First Port was restricted to 6 litres per household per day, regardless of the number of people in the household. A standard toilet requires four to six litres of water to fully flush.

The LDRS approached First Port to find out if Maria, and other families, would be compensated. A spokesperson said, “In situations like this, temporary accommodation can only be arranged once we receive instruction from the insurer, which was provided on Monday. As with any similar incident, a loss adjuster has been appointed to oversee the expense claims related to the temporary accommodation sourced for residents.

“The water supply has now been fully restored following vandalism to the water pipe last Friday. We understand how challenging the past few days have been for residents and we have done everything possible to support them. Our team has been on-site to assist, provided bottled water, and shared regular updates via our customer portal.

Zack Gardner was another resident affected by the water outage. He told the LDRS he was lucky because his girlfriend lives nearby, however he says it could have been a dangerous situation for elderly, vulnerable or unwell residents.

He said, “It is clear there was no contingency plan from First Port, and it shines a light on the general poor management of the building. We had a call with them [First Port], and they said residents need to make individual claims for their accommodation costs, however long that could take. People said no we pay service charges and pay for our water, so we should be compensated.”

Zach Gardner. Picture: Facundo Arrizabalaga/MyLondon

In November 2024, 34 MPs signed a letter to First Port for ‘ripping off residents’. They said, “We are getting in touch to share our grave concerns about the level of management fees you are charging, the standards of service you are delivering, and the conduct of your company towards our constituents.”

On Thursday (3 April), local MP Rupa Huq said, “I am appalled they left residents at West Circus, W3 without basic human right of running water for nearly a week. Their racketeering must stop.”

Philip James Lynch - Local Democracy Reporter