‘I won’t believe it until I see it’
FLAT owners faced paying more than £100,000 to make a block safe from fire because it is just over 16ft too short for a grant.
The 36 leaseholders of the fivestoreytransport House, in Salford, were told they would have to foot the £3million bill to get rid of flammable fire cavity breaks, insulation and render.
They have already paid £4,500 each to replace decking on walkways and are charged a monthly fee for “a waking watch service”.
The block was built in 2005 but, at 44ft high, currently does not meet the Government’s threshold for financial help implemented following the Grenfell disaster in 2017.
They were told they each faced another £97,000 bill to carry out the further work in June.
At the time, leaseholder Mandy Sandhu said: “It’s very, very stressful. Sometimes I just can’t sleep for thinking about it.”
But she and her neighbours could be helped by the proposed changes.
She said they still needed clarification of what would be done and added: “I won’t believe it until I see it.”
Neighbour Darren Matthews described the move as a “step forward”, but added: “With the best will in the world this issue isn’t going to be on a voluntary basis. It has to be enshrined in law with a legal obligation with proper stipulations to the building industry.”