My dream flat has turned into a hell – all because of cladding
It’s unsellable, unsafe and unmortgageable; I’m losing money over remediation delays,
When Stacey Greenfield bought her spacious twobedroom flat in a new development in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, in April 2017, she didn’t imagine that, seven years later, she’d be asking her solicitor how she could get rid of it.
“I was literally begging: please, can I just give this back?” she says. “It sounds awful, but at this point I would happily give away the keys, even if I got no money back. That’s how bad it’s got.”
Stacey, now 33, had bought the property off-plan for £380,000 with her partner at the time. Borehamwood was a great location for Stacey: close to her parents, with quick rail links to King’s Cross.
She liked the development, Horizon Place, which had been built by Linden Homes, part of Vistry Group. There was a green communal area outside, and she enjoyed having an input into the design of her home. “It was very exciting,” says Stacey, who had been living with her parents. “It was my first property, and my first time actually having my own space.”
But in 2020, another resident tried to sell their property and encountered difficulties: homes in the development did not have an External Fire Wall (EWS1) certificate. Introduced in December 2019, it is part of fire safety regulations introduced after the Grenfell Tower blaze, which claimed 72 lives.
Horizon Place’s EWS1 review, commissioned in December 2020, found combustible materials in the building’s external wall, concluding that “an adequate standard of safety is not achieved”. It was given a B2 rating, meaning that remedial works were needed to improve its fire safety. These could take between three and six months to complete.
“Grenfell hadn’t happened [when I bought the flat], so there weren’t as many conversations around the make-up of buildings. It wasn’t at the forefront of my mind, though it would be now,” says Stacey. “From then on, it became a nightmare.”
At first, there were debates around who would fund the remediation. “There’s been a real lack of ownership, so no one really understands who does what,” Stacey says. Leaseholders were asked to foot the bill. But in 2022, after the introduction of the Building Safety Act – which protects leaseholders from the cost of remediation – Vistry agreed to fund the works.
But no contract has been signed and the start date has been repeatedly pushed back.
In the interim, balconies were also found to have combustible timber decking, providing an “unacceptable” risk of fire spread and requiring repair, according to a report from September 2022.
They were notified by FirstPort, the building management company. “The letter basically said: the balconies are unsafe; stop using them immediately,” Stacey says. “It really worried people, and there was no sense of urgency. You’re constantly thinking: is my balcony going to fall down?”
She was notified that her insurance premium would rise from £375 to £4,000 per year and received a backdated invoice in January, due within six weeks. It will provide cover until October this year – but after that, costs may even double.
Stacey has been trying to sell the flat since lockdown, having broken up with her partner. But with the insurance premium soaring, fire defects unresolved and no date set for the repairs, lenders like Santander, HSBC and Virgin have refused mortgages on the property.
She has already lost two potential buyers. The second, earlier this year, was particularly frustrating.
“The buyer knew all the issues and really wanted the flat. As much as I wanted to sell it to them and they wanted to buy it from me, they couldn’t. They needed a mortgage, and no provider would provide.”
Stacey is set to make a loss. She originally put the flat on the market at £330,000 – £50,000 less than she had paid for it. “Now, the flat is worth nothing, because you can’t get a mortgage against it. There’s no value in it at all.”
Vistry Group said: “We have committed to ensuring that leaseholders do not have to pay for the remediation of fire safety defects at Horizon Place. Additionally, to alleviate any mortgage or sales concerns, we have issued a letter of comfort that is widely accepted by the Council of Mortgage Lenders to allow funding to proceed.”
Giles Grover, co-leader of campaigning group End Our Cladding Scandal, is sceptical about the benefit of letters of comfort which are designed to give assurance or encouragement only, imposing moral, but not legal, obligations on their issuer.
“Ultimately, you’re still at the mercy of the market and the risk appetite of the lender,” he says.
Meanwhile, Stacey has married her new partner, moved to Manchester and is seven months pregnant with her first child. For now, she has taken her flat off the market, and is letting it out for £1,700 a month – receiving £1,450 after agents’ fees. The tenants are aware of the situation.
But the rising costs – £1,500 per month on top of her letting income, she estimates – are a strain.
FirstPort has agreed to provide cover until October this year on an agreed payment plan for the insurance but Stacey is afraid she will not be able to cover the costs once she goes on maternity leave in May. “It’s financially draining; it’s so stressful. I can never switch off,” she says. A spokesperson for FirstPort stressed that they are working to reduce the insurance costs.
Vistry Group did not provide a date for the works, stating that they will “take place once the contract is signed with the building owners”. The remediation works will not include repairs to the balconies.
Until then, Stacey is unable to move forward with her life, saying: “We just want the works to start, or at least the contract signed. We’re seven years on. It’s been hell.”
Now, the flat is worth nothing, because you can’t get a mortgage against it. There’s no value in it at all