‘We’re paying for a flat that doesn’t exist’: Leaseholders fury as Dagenham fire block demolished

4 December 2024, 07:33

By Fraser Knight.

@Fraser_Knight

Leaseholders who owned flats in a block which went up in flames three months ago have told LBC they still haven’t heard from the building’s owner or had any of their service charge money back, as their homes are torn to the ground.

Demolition work has now begun to tear it down and rebuild it, with homeowners claiming the decision was taken by the building owner without any consultation.

They also say the work could take more than five years, with no suggestion of them being able to get out of their leasehold agreement before then.

Jesse Gill, who was at the block as the demolition began on Monday, told LBC: “We got married two weeks before the fire and my new wife and I were supposed to live there, it was supposed to be our home after the wedding and we were excited to be moving in together.

“To see it now in the state that it’s in, it really hits home. It’s hard to see it, when your hard-earned money has gone into buying it, looking after it and paying your bills.

Dagenham fire victims were reportedly paying the equivalent of their mortgage in service bills

“It was a good place for me. It was my first home. My only home.

“Now, it’s such a tough situation. We haven’t been reimbursed our ground rent or service charges - and we’re having to pay our mortgage for a property that doesn’t exist.”

As we spoke, Jesse said there has been no opportunity for residents to gather any of their belongings from the block - pointing out his trainers still hanging on the back of the door of his now-exposed bedroom.

Another resident managed to get a demolition contractor to pick out his child’s teddy bear from the rubble.

LBC has heard of some leaseholders at Spectrum House who have paid up to £750 a month on service charges, to maintain communal areas in the block, with the next bill due to come in the next few weeks.

The terms of their contract state that their ground rent will be refunded, but they say they haven’t been given any money yet - or indication as to whether they’ll still be expected to pay a service charge.

Sarah Williams, who used to be head of the Spectrum Residents’ Association, told LBC: “We can’t get hold of the freeholder. There should be a mandatory document called a residents engagement strategy, as part of the new Building Safety Act which would tell us how to get in touch with him.”

“I’ve asked the managing agent who says it doesn’t exist.

“My home is being demolished, nobody has given me any money back and the person who owns that building hasn’t even had the humanity to just come and talk to us and tell me what’s happening to my home.In the days that followed the fire on Freshwater Road, Angela Rayner, the housing secretary and deputy prime minister, visited the site to talk about the need to take quicker action in removing dangerous cladding.

She said: “It’s horrendous to see the scale of the damage that’s happened here. There’s still a lot of work to do on remediation and since taking on this role I think that’s been going far too slowly and I will be meeting with the health and safety executive and the building safety regulator to speed up that process.”

This week, the government set a target of 2029 for all remediation work to have been completed, warning building owners could face jail time for failing to comply.

Irina Vasile, who was a tenant on the second floor of Spectrum House, said: “There are many, many buildings like this which are unsafe.

“In those four or five years, other people are going to die, like Grenfell. Other people are going to lose everything like us in Dagenham.

“Things need to speed up and the owners of the buildings need to do something and not let people live in buildings which are unsafe. Why are you waiting for the fire to happen?”

Since the fire in Dagenham, the Metropolitan Police has found no evidence that it was started deliberately.

London Fire Brigade is still working with the Building Safety Regulator on their investigation, after concerns were raised about the block before the fire began.

LBC has contacted the freeholder and managing agent of Spectrum House but has had no response.

Tenants have described having PTSD and anger over the handling of the situation, with claims of fire escape being blocked, alarms not going off and sprinklers failing to work.

One resident told LBC that their primary school-aged child panicked and begged her parents to get out of their temporary flat when a smoke detector went off.

“I don’t want to die,” they said she cried, with the memories of August still raw in her mind.