IT'S one of the tallest tower blocks in Southampton and tempers are beginning to rise among the hundreds of residents who call it home.

They say they are fed up with the conditions of Canberra Towers and are now demanding that council bosses give their home a facelift.

The residents are even threatening to withhold their rent unless housing chiefs take action.

They say they have had enough of the mould, flooding and lift dilemmas that dominate their days.

Now they are demanding action is taken to change the "outdated" building which they feel is falling apart.

It comes after an internet campaign was set up by the residents of the Weston council tower block to give people a platform to share their woes and pictures of their worst nightmares.

Many of the images have revealed severe mould behind the wallpaper, flooding in the kitchen and balconies, open wires by lifts, broken doors, leaking windows, plumbing issues and complaints of powerful odours filling the hallways.

The 24 storey block contains 144 two-bedroom flats and is one of the tallest towers in the city, but its residents are miserable and are joining forces to see it either updated or bulldozed.

Many have dubbed it a "house of horrors" and have said they would threaten not to pay their rent if it meant the council took action to fix their accommodation.

Lynne Nell, 53, has lived in the tower with her husband for 10 years.

She said: "It's disgusting and ridiculous. I moved here from South Africa 12 years ago and I was just grateful to have a home, but it's too frustrating to see the state of this tower block.

"It wasn't as bad when I first moved in but over the years it's just been forgotten about and we all feel totally ignored.

"The lifts are going to take two years to fix, this place is a nightmare during the school run, we have damp, I live over the bin area and my living room stinks like a rubbish tip, we can't take it anymore."

Daily Echo:

Mum-of-two Jade Tudor, 24 moved in 2013 and has constantly been plagued by black water flooding her balcony and kitchen from an outside drain.

"The flooding and mould are unbearable, I'm constantly moving furniture and painting over parts of the wall because of the mould, it's disgusting. There's too many problems to get it fixed they should just demolish the place, it's ruined everything since I moved here, I should be investing in my children not a mouldy flat."

The residents are all now working to get as many signatures as possible and send a petition to Southampton City Council asking for immediate repair works and action to be taken.

Nikki Donnarumma, 26, mum-of-one said they would all like to see and investigation or survey carried out to fix all the residents' issues.

Daily Echo:

Nikki said: "This is like the tower that time forgot it just needs to go. I want to see a surveyor come and really look at the problems with the lifts, the plumbing, the damp and mould that encourages germs to make our children ill, it's not good enough and there are so many angry people here. We want to be proud of our homes."

Southampton City Council housing boss, Labour's Cllr Warwick Payne said that the council has invested £1.4million into modernising the two lifts by 2017 and he hopes in the next few years they will be able to start renovating the whole tower block.

He added that by Spring 2017 the council will have completed renovations of 11 tower blocks and plans have already been discussed to then tackle the three tallest towers in the city, Canberra, Millbrook and Redbridge.

Cllr Payne said: "Investing the money is a sign of the commitment that we have, they are not being forgotten. The work the council carried out nearby at International Way has made a real difference but we are absolutely committed and the job is not finished until we have also done Canberra Towers.

"We will be bringing more funding to modernise the entire building and we are determined to keep improving our stock across the city.

"If any tenants feel that their block has not been improved recently then it's our aim to ensure we put that right, we will not rest until we have modernised housing to make up for a history of underfunding."