Residents have revealed the hellish conditions at a housing development where children as young as six get high in the stairwells.
The north London apartments are home to domestic abuse who were promised quick repairs, high quality homes, and well looked after shared spaces.
But despite being brand new, the building reportedly comes with a list of alarming faults including faulty fire alarms and broken security doors.
One resident, referred to as Dawn, claims she has seen young children doing drugs at the development.
"One day there were children, a six-year-old boy with balloons, on the stairs," she told My London.
"Kids taking enough drugs to knock out a horse.
"They just came from the street to take drugs in here. The balloon was bigger than his face."
Residents say they have faced repeated failures in communication from their housing association London & Quadrant (L&Q).
The social landlord immediately put in a Waking Watch due to the fire safety risk to tenants after being approached for comment by My London as part of their investigation into living conditions at the site.
Located between Alexandra Palace and Wood Green, the sprawling 12 acre 'city village' is brimming with one, two and three bedroom homes.
From the outside, the self proclaimed 'Mansion' apartments appear to be dream homes made with new bricks and tall windows among plant beds and cobbled pavements.
But residents at Avalon Mansions in particular are asking L&Q to keep their side of the deal.
This includes some who have fled violent relationships and threats to their life, now seeking a safe and peaceful haven.
L&Q manages around 95,000 homes across the UK and is responsible for some of the biggest developments across London.
In March 2022, the housing association declared a staggering turnover of over £1.1billion with a profit of £154million - more than half of which came from social housing lettings.
MyLondon went to the Mansions, which opened in 2021, and found evidence of drug use in communal areas as well as spit on the walls, broken security doors, fire alarms hanging from the ceiling, and a sense of hopelessness among residents.
One resident, who will be referred to as Abbey, suffered 13 years of mental, physical, and emotional abuse at the hands of her partner.
She showed MyLondon a non-molestation order against her ex granted in the 2010s, but it didn't stop him turning up to her child's school hurling abuse at her.
Not only was he fresh out of prison, but he continued to financially abuse her through their own children.
"I believe I have a number of health issues because of him," she explained.
"After giving birth to our child he threw me on the floor and dragged me out of my home. He broke into the property and trashed their bed and my room, cut up their baby clothes and mine."
Abbey told how she was spat at, strangled, and manipulated for over a decade and felt suicidal at times.
"If I did not have my children I would not get out of bed, I probably would not be here," she said.
"I would have snuffed myself a long time ago. It’s a lot to deal with," she said, quivering over a thick bundle of documents which detail his reign of terror."
It means when security doors get broken and they are not fixed, she worries about her children and her own safety.
At the block, residents claimed the main door had just been fixed.
But an internal door which gives access to tenants' front doors was swinging open with the emergency exit button flashing red where it had been smashed.
Dawn, another survivor of domestic violence, said her ex-partner petrol bombed her old home while she was still living there.
At first she was happy to be moved, but she said the new build is not what it seems.
"When I first moved in I was shown a different house to the one I am in now," she said.
"Within six months of living here, I have fire alarms that do not work, they have been taken out of the ceiling with wires hanging out."
She claimed that the London Fire Brigade had attended and warned her the alarms were not installed properly.
But like so many residents in Avalon Mansions, she said L&Q have done nothing about it.
"My fire alarms go off six hours at a time. It’s basically a death waiting to happen," she said.
"If a fire goes on in my house, me and my son are dead."
L&Q was approached for comment on the faulty alarms on March 17.
Five hours later, residents at Avalon received a message to say L&Q had realised the fire alarm system was "not fully functional" and put in a Waking Watch to patrol the building.
It said the London Fire Brigade had been notified and the evacuation strategy will remain 'stay put'.
Some of the problems in the block are said to come from the other tenants who live there.
Abbey and Dawn blame a drug user living on another floor who they claim brings other drug users into the block to smoke crack.
Dawn said she had found needles, condoms, and codeine cough syrup in the communal area, and her young son even witnessed people injecting drugs on the stairwell.
The pair said L&Q are unable to move her because she is in supported living, but it worries them to know strangers are entering the building.
Nitrous oxide canisters and balloons have been found in the basement.
There was also a moment of panic as residents rushed into the communal area to say a group of boys in balaclavas were seen in the stairwell.
Another mum who lives next door to a drug user spoke out in confidence.
The resident claimed she called L&Q as soon as she moved in to alert them and told how her two children have to put up with smells wafting into her flat.
"Our flats join together at the laundry cupboard," she said.
"Whatever she is smoking in her house when I open my laundry cupboard, it smells of that and it’s getting into my kids' room."
She is one of multiple residents in the block who are now refusing to pay their £50 a week service charge until L&Q address the issues.
Unlike the social housing tenants, she owns 25 per cent of her home and chose to live there because of how it looked on the brochure.
Despite L&Q's promise to 'look after' shared spaces, she and other residents claim the cleaner only appears once every three weeks.
"To be honest it’s ridiculous," she added.
"There’s other people who are part owners. They have put us all together and are treating us differently.
"If we are paying our service charge then what is that? They have an outside bin on their bit, so we know they are not treating us the same. There’s clearly some kind of segregation. They never get back to you."
Residents said the block is also home to criminals and described a recent raid where armed police burst into the block at night looking for a man thought to be hiding guns.
They've also seen police knocking on doors and climbing a balcony, looking for what they claim to be a suspected drug dealer.
David Lewis, Executive Group Director – Property Services at L&Q, said: "We take the safety and security of our residents extremely seriously.
"We thank residents for raising their concerns with us, and we have identified some improvements to fire safety that we are carrying out urgently.
"In the meantime, we have introduced security at Avalon Mansions including a Waking Watch to ensure the safety of our customers.
"Unfortunately when repairs are required to lifts and fire doors it can sometimes take time to source parts and carry out repairs, and we appreciate this sometimes leads to inconvenience for residents.
"We apologise for these delays and thank our residents for their patience and understanding. We aim to complete all repairs as quickly as we can, but where doors are not secured or there are access issues, we treat these as urgent.
"With regards to the other issues raised, our local team is working closely with residents to complete any outstanding repairs and respond to any improvements we can make to our service."
