Areas we cover
We cover London and everywhere inside the M25: all 32 boroughs, the City of London, and the towns in Hertfordshire, Surrey and Essex that sit inside the motorway, such as Watford, Borehamwood, Epsom, Esher and Loughton. The £60 call-out is the same wherever you are and whatever the hour.
Plumbing problems in London follow the housing more than the postcode. Below is what we tend to find in each part of the city, so you know what to check first while you wait.
Central London and the City
Boroughs: Westminster, Camden, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, and the City of London.
Mansion blocks, Georgian and Victorian houses split into flats, and basement flats. A leak here is often someone else’s: water from the flat above tracks along joists and comes out metres from its source. Stopcocks in these buildings are frequently in a communal cupboard or the basement, so find yours before you need it.
East London
Boroughs: Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham, and Havering.
A mix of Victorian terraces, post-war estates and newer towers. Many new-build flats have no boiler at all; heat and hot water come from a communal system through a heat interface unit in a cupboard. That unit is usually looked after by the building’s heat network operator or managing agent, so ring them first if every flat in the block has lost heat.
North and north-west London
Boroughs: Haringey, Barnet, Enfield, Brent and Harrow.
Plenty of Edwardian and inter-war houses that still run a regular or system boiler with a hot water cylinder in the airing cupboard and a cold water tank in the loft. Failed immersion heaters, tank overflows dripping from an outside pipe and loft pipework that freezes in a cold snap are common calls.
West London
Boroughs: Hammersmith and Fulham, Ealing, Hounslow and Hillingdon.
1930s semis sit alongside mansion flats and converted terraces. Older semis often have long pipe runs under suspended timber floors, where a slow leak can go unnoticed until the floorboards soften or the electrics trip.
South-east London
Boroughs: Southwark, Lambeth, Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley.
Rows of Victorian terraces, many converted into two or three flats sharing one supply pipe from the street. When the upper flat loses pressure every time the ground floor runs a bath, the shared supply is the likely reason. Homes built before about 1970 can still have a lead supply pipe.
South and south-west London
Boroughs: Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton, Croydon, Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames.
Large Victorian and Edwardian family houses, suburban semis and plenty of loft conversions. A loft conversion often means a combi boiler working harder than it was sized for, or a pumped shower fed from a cylinder that was never upgraded.
Inside the M25, beyond the London boundary
Outside Greater London but inside the M25, older town centres give way to post-war and newer suburbs. Distances are longer out here, so we would rather give you a realistic arrival window when you book than print a guess on this page.
Hard water across London
Almost all of London is supplied with hard water. Limescale builds up inside combi boiler heat exchangers, on immersion heater elements and in shower valves, and it is one of the most common reasons for hot water that runs lukewarm or cuts out. Our hot water problems guides explain the signs.
If the whole street has no water
Before calling anyone out, check whether the neighbours have water too. If they do not, it is a supply problem for your water company, not a plumbing fault. Thames Water supplies most of London, with Affinity Water, SES Water and Essex and Suffolk Water covering parts of the edges. Each publishes a live map of supply interruptions. If only your home is affected, our no water and low pressure guides walk through the checks.
Booking a visit
Send your postcode and a line on the problem through the contact form. What you pay is explained on the pricing page.