'We were sold a false dream': Sadiq Khan faces questions over flagship housing scheme as tenants face mass eviction

9 October 2024, 07:46 | Updated: 9 October 2024, 10:08

Sadiq Khan's first ever "London Living Rent" tenants have told LBC they were “sold a false dream”, as they face eviction after years of dealing with substandard living conditions.

It comes as MPs are due to debate the Government's Renters' Rights Bill in the Commons for the first time, which seeks to ban Section 21 - or "no-fault" - evictions.

County House in Beckenham was opened by the Mayor of London in May 2017 as the inaugural property in one of his flagship affordable housing schemes, offering reduced rent with the option for tenants to save towards buying their home within ten years.

The programme claims to offer "high quality rented homes on stable tenancies".

Renters with an income under £67,000 are eligible to apply for it, saving them about a third on market-rates.

Launching the initiative at County House in 2017, Sadiq Khan hailed it as "historic" but seven years on, after a litany of issues including damp, mould, flooding, a "life-threatening" fire, pigeon infestations, and even a raw sewage leak, over 50 residents are being evicted.

As a result, LBC has been told some residents are now facing increases of up to £900 in their monthly rents which are no longer covered by the Mayor’s scheme, and they say their dreams of home-ownership have been "set back by years".

County House is owned by Hyde Housing Association which benefits from millions of pounds of City Hall funding.

The social housing company, which is currently being investigated by the Housing Ombudsman over a separate matter, says it has spent nearly £3m fixing issues at County House they claim were left by the contractors which converted the building from an office block into flats in 2017.

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A spokesperson told LBC: "We expect that it will cost at least a further £10 million to rectify remaining issues, and there will be ongoing costs needed to maintain decency levels. As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision that it is no longer justifiable for us as a social housing charity to use our already stretched resources to cover these costs."

The spokesperson told LBC: "Three-quarters of customers have now moved or confirmed a date for when they’ll be moving. We’re continuing to work with the managing agent for the building to liaise with remaining customers.”

The building is being sold, and all tenants have to move out by November 1.

Hyde said they have offered ‘one-to-one advice sessions’ to help residents find alternative accommodation following the eviction notice.

"[I was] confused, angry and perplexed that this could happen to Sadiq Khan's... first London living rent scheme, which he officially opened," resident Jason Campbell told LBC.

"The very same people that he [met at the launch] are now faced with being homeless."

When Jason moved into his flat in County House in 2017, it was a "joyous" occasion.

The telecommunications professional loved the convenient transport links, the huge windows bathing the flat with light, and the views stretching all the way to Alexandra Palace.

But the honeymoon period ended when tenants started to notice issues with the building.

"First, we had a continuous leak from the roof... then we had a major fire," he told LBC.

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The "almost catastrophic" blaze in 2021 started in the basement, and resulted in residents being moved into temporary accommodation for up to a month.

"Then after that we had a flood in the basement, which was about three meters high... and clearly people started to say "well, this may not be the property to buy," even though they wanted to buy it," said Jason.

Other problems included extensive issues with the building’s windows which led to dampness and mould in many flats.

During this time, residents repeatedly raised concerns with Hyde. LBC has seen hundreds of emails showing the housing association was aware of the issues but often acted slowly, or made promises for repairs that were never delivered.

The building was left without any water on multiple occasions due to issues with the pumps with residents given bottled water.

One resident lost supply of water on six occasions over the course of a month in 2021 with no compensation given by Hyde, despite repeated requests.

Efforts were made by Hyde to carry out repairs on the failed pumps but the issues continued to occur.

In another line of communication, seen by LBC, a County House resident raised concerns about their windows in 2022, and work was promised but never completed.

A contractor was regularly sent by Hyde to the resident’s flat but any repairs to the windows were ‘limited’ and ‘cosmetic’, LBC has been told.

Complaints around window leaks were repeatedly met with the response that the landlord (Hyde) needed to carry out further ‘investigations’.

At one point a resident was told that ‘an independent window specialist’ needed to be brought in before the works to replace the windows could begin.

The Government plans to bring forward long-awaited legislation this autumn, Awaab’s Law, which will set deadlines for social landlords in England and Wales to tackle reported hazards such as damp and mould.

The law will be named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak who died from a respiratory condition caused by "extensive" mould in a social housing flat in Rochdale in 2020.

Today, County House sits mostly empty, with water stains marking the ceilings, a leak dripping down the stairs, and some empty flats with their interiors pulled apart by contractors trying to get to the bottom of what is causing the insistent damp.

Tenants were served Section 21 notices in June, but despite being given double the required warning by Hyde, some residents haven't been able to find suitable, affordable accommodation to move into.

"It's an anxious time for many," says Jason. "There's many ladies in tears. I've spoken to so many with kids."

He says there are still about 18 families looking for a place to live: "They don't know where they're going to go, and the time is ticking."

Jason and his wife managed to find a new flat and moved out two weeks ago.

It's not part of the London Living Rent scheme and costs an extra £500 per month.

"That's £6,000 a year," says Jason. "We were supposed to stay here for another three years under this scheme, so that's £18,000 that we will not be able to save to put down towards a deposit."

Andrew Boff, Conservative member of the Greater London Assembly, has told LBC the blame lies firmly at the door of Sadiq Khan.

"It is his scheme and if he… pays no attention to the quality, then I'm afraid he's falling short of people's expectations," he said.

"He needs to ensure that everybody who's offering that London Living Rent is actually also offering quality housing and not offering housing that's actually dangerous to the residents."

In response, the Mayor of London told LBC: “This one example of poor treatment of residents is really disappointing.

"We're in touch with the housing association, we're in touch with the provider, to make sure all of these residents...are re-housed with the decent rent, and their aspiration of being a home-owner is fulfilled.

“We can't allow this one disappointing experience to take away from the really good experience tens of thousands of Londoners have received”.

A spokesperson from Hyde said: “We know this will have been difficult news for customers to have received and we’re very sorry for the disruption they will face.

"That’s why we’ve put advice and support in place, alongside giving customers 4 months’ notice, double the required period, before they need to move.

"Following a fire in 2021, we’ve carried out detailed checks across the building and discovered issues with the quality of the original building work carried out by the developer and its contractor before we purchased the building.

"This includes problems with the external wall system, the roof, and with how windows were installed.

"Throughout our ownership of the building, we’ve responded to repairs when customers have raised them and carried out regular inspections, ensuring that all homes meet the required levels of decency.

“While we have spent almost £3million so far to ensure that our customers are safe in the building and to address issues we’ve found resulting from the original building works, we expect that it will cost at least a further £10million to rectify remaining issues, and there will be ongoing costs needed to maintain decency levels.

"As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision that it is no longer justifiable for us as a social housing charity to use our already stretched resources to cover these costs.

“We’ve offered customers one-to-one advice sessions and signposted them to agencies who may be able to offer advice and support, including the local authority, who we’ve proactively been in contact with.

"We’ve also advised customers of various housing options they may wish to explore.

"Two-thirds of customers have now moved or confirmed a date for when they’ll be moving. We’re continuing to work with the managing agent for the building to liaise with remaining customers.”