Residents plagued by sewage issues were horrified when a “river of excrement” flowed from their property into the road.

Tenants of Rainbow View in Parkers Road, Totnes have lived with puddles of excrement in their gardens for the past 18 months and one resident even had “poo coming out of the shower” every time she flushed the toilet.

Residents claim the sewage leak is just the latest of a long list of complaints with the property, which includes collapsing ceilings, showers not working, and inoperable loos.

Pensioner Maria Liljefors says there are so many things wrong with her flat that she has felt suicidal at times.

She doesn’t drink her tap water because it often smells “fishy” and was forced to wash in her kitchen sink for two weeks when her shower didn’t work.

Maria, 82, said: “I thought this was going to be my little haven in my old age but all these problems make me feel, I’m sorry to say, that I want to go and lie down and die sometimes. It’s been so depressing. I just want everything to function properly.

Maria Liljefors ( )

“There is bad workmanship left, right and centre. A fishy smell came from my water for three weeks. It comes and goes. I try not to drink it, I boil it first or buy bottled water.

“My shower didn’t work for two weeks and I had to wash in the kitchen sink.”

“The guttering outside my balcony is not fixed to the roof so consequently water from the roof just drains down onto my balcony and floods it when the rains come.

“I pay the management company to sort things out but they just will not talk about it.”

The ongoing problem with leaking raw sewage at the block of flats at Bridgetown escalated to it flowing out of drains and onto a local road last week.

Residents blame incomplete construction work by builders for the “horrendous” living conditions.

The development was converted from an old council office around two years ago, but since then residents have reported a vast array of snagging issues from leaks to a ‘poorly designed’ sewage system that is said to be unable to cope whenever there is heavy rain.

There have been ongoing sewage problems, but for the first time, Nikki Clargo, 37, said that human waste had also bubbled up inside her flat – that when she flushed her toilet, faeces flowed out of her shower drain.

Nikki Clargo with the poo that bubbled up her shower drain ( )

She only realised the issue was affecting everyone in the building after claiming complaints to building managers Apex Property Management fell on deaf ears and she complained about it to her neighbours.

Nikki reported the latest sewage problems to South West Water, the Environment Agency, South Hams Council, the developer Ian Walmsley and Apex on Tuesday January 3.

South West Water attended the same day and confirmed the blocked drain was not one of its own. The next morning a contractor is said to have come to unblock the drain. However, instead, it resulted in raw sewage spilling out onto the highway.

Ian Walmsley, director of Leading Homes – described on its website as developers of “affordable luxury properties” - said the blockage was due to fat and wet wipes being put into the drainage system.

He denied sewage spilled out of the drain, adding: “It is unfortunate that during the cleaning a small amount of waste water mixed with the jet wash was released into the car park by the contractors who were engaged by the management company. “

Oceanographer Nikki, who was one of the first people to move into the development of around 20 flats 18 months ago, described the leak as “literally a river of poo.”

“The blocked drain actually burst and we had raw sewage running down the street into Parkers Way. It was disgusting,” she said.

Sewage flooding out of Rainbow View ( )

“The drainage system of the building cannot handle the volume of waste coming from flats. This is the third time in one-and-a-half years that I have had raw excrement in my garden. Unbelievably, the developer and land management company are arguing over who is to blame, rather than fixing the issue.

“Meanwhile, everyone in the building has foul smelling drains or is wading through raw excrement. This is clearly a serious public health matter. 

“It was only when the poo started coming out of my shower that I decided to talk to the others to warn them - only then did I realise that everyone had problems being ignored.

“The things people are having to put up with in this building are absolutely disgusting - leaks, ceilings falling in, warped floors, unfinished stairwells, toilets being inoperable for months, showers not working. The list is endless.

Foul smelling drain in a garden at Rainbow View ( )

“Meanwhile we pay £660 per year – which is going up this year – to manage the upkeep, while the building is falling apart.

“This place is not well built. I now have opened a case with South Hams Council and will be submitting as comprehensive a list as I can muster to cover all of the residents problems.”

Initially the management company refused to pay for the clean up of Nikki's bathroom, she said, but finally relented and dealt with the issue 50 hours after her first complaint.

Mr Walmsley said residents are “regularly reminded” not to put fat and wet wipes into the drainage system.

He added: “The new drainage system was all approved and signed off by South West Water in December 2020 following a video inspection.

“This leak was not caused by the drainage system as far as we are aware. If there is any issue found the original contractor will assist in putting the issues right. If they do no cost will be passed to any resident.”