Owners of flats hit by £100K fire costs
COURT RULING COULD HIKE SERVICE CHARGES FOR LEASEHOLDERS IN OTHER HIGH RISE TOWERS AFTER CLADDING SAFETY CONCERNS
FLAT owners at a swanky Salford apartment block must foot a £100,000 bill to pay for fire wardens following a court ruling.
Service charges will now treble for leaseholders at the Fresh building, on Chapel Street, after cladding was found to be unsafe in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
E&J estates, a multi-million pound firm which owns the freeholds for thousands of homes, took legal action to enforce the charges.
Yesterday, a tribunal judge ruled in favour of the property giant - a decision which could impact leaseholders across the country.
Last week, for example, it was revealed that residents at the Chips building in New Islington have been billed £175,000 for fire measures. More than 140 residents living in the Fresh building found out last summer that it was unsafe following an inspection. Freeholders E&J Estates had to appoint 24-hour fire wardens as a short-term solution.
Longer term, the fire wardens may have to stay in place until the cladding is replaced. A ‘feasibility study’ is now underway and it is understood there could be other structural issues within the building.
Resident Matthew Crisp, 29, says his service charge has increased from £125 a month to £360 a month, just to pay for the interim fire marshals. Until now, he had been refusing to pay the increased amount. But he now fears that the ruling will have wider implications for leaseholders.
“I’m worried this now sets a precedent for us to foot the bill for the cladding too, and that’s devastating as I don’t know if I’ll be able to continue living in my home,” he said.
“When you buy an apartment or a house, you pay a solicitor to carry out all the normal checks.
“Now I’ve found out what I’ve been sold is dangerous to live in. The cladding is flammable.
“I don’t understand why the leaseholder is responsible. The freeholder has gone after the leaseholder straight away. I feel like that’s the easy route and they should have explored other routes first.
“They say their priority is the safety of residents but it doesn’t feel like that. E&J is a huge company with millions of pounds.
“If I have to keep paying this it’s going to change my life, most of my income will go on this - ultimately, I don’t know if I’ll be able to carry on living here.” Most two-bedroom flats in the block appear to be worth more than£120,000. But last October, shortly after the cladding issue came to light, one flat was sold for the apparent knock-down price of £100,000. Matthew added: “I don’t think anyone would buy a flat with a £360 service charge. There’s no idea how long it will last. Presumably, it would end when the cladding is replaced - but we don’t know when that will be or how much it will cost.” Civil engineer Darren Ramsay, 53, is leading the leaseholders’ campaign group. He bought a £120,000 two-bedroom apartment in 2008. He already pays Matthew Crisp £141 a month in service charges and says the fire warden fee as trebled this. He said: “We have written to the mayor of Salford, our MP, but we are in state of limbo.”
Greater Manchester Fire Service said it had carried out an inspection at the Fresh building and an ‘action plan’ had been put in place.
A spokesman for E&J said: “These works are essential and urgent but we absolutely recognise the significant cost to leaseholders.
“We will do everything we can to keep costs to a minimum but the safety of the residents is our absolute priority.
“We are now loaning short term funds to the service charge account to help cover the additional costs currently being incurred and we are working with a number of stakeholders to try and find a longer term solution to help leaseholders in meeting these costs.”