BMW 5 Series E60 530d 2004 - Water leaking into passenger side front footwell - Paul530

I noticed a damp smell in the car yesterday. I checked under all the floor mats and found the front passenger side carpet quite damp but luckily not waterlogged. I removed the pollen filter and found some leaves in the tray which may have impeded the exit of rain water. I have thoroughly cleaned the tray and checked the filter, which was recently replaced (I checked both sides of car and found virtually no leaves in the drivers side). Hopefully this will have cured the problem. I have checked the door and the carpet around same and think I can eliminate that as the culprit. I have owned the car for 2 years and not had this problem before. My question is this, have I missed anything?

On another note. The car is so quite that when it is raining I can hear the tinkling sound of water draining away, this is comes from the passenger side only and may be related to the windscreen wipers generally moving water to that side. Has anyone else noticed this, hopefully it is nothing abnormal.

BMW 5 Series E60 530d 2004 - Water leaking into passenger side front footwell - Avant

Moved to Technical.

BMW 5 Series E60 530d 2004 - Water leaking into passenger side front footwell - Paul530

In addition to the above I have today removed housings on both sides (on top of which sit the microfilters) revealing on the drivers side, the brake fluid reservoir and servo and on the passengers side a large plastic box. On the drivers side the rubber bung/drain plug, which is tricky to access, was partially blocked but did eventually allow water (which I poured in) to drain away, I cleaned the drain as best I could, forcing a plastic tube into it and that side now appears ok, for the moment. The passenger side (which is the problem side) however is another kettle of fish, the bung/drain is impossible to access without removing the plastic box (which looks to contain electrical stuff, It is not obvious how this box is secured). I did consider pouring in some water surrounding the box to see where it came out but decided not to tempt fate. There didn't appear appear to be any water in that compartment but it might of course have drained into the car!

If anyone has dealt with issue before, I would appreciate your advice, ideally I would like to remove the electrics box if its not too difficult.

Thank you.

BMW 5 Series E60 530d 2004 - Water leaking into passenger side front footwell - Paul530

Just in case anyone is watching. With the help of some other websites, I've been able to narrow it down to a possible perished seal between the bottom of the door card and the door.