Residents at Cardinal Lofts say their in hell and being kept in the dark about what's going on
Tenants were kicked out and put in temporary accommodations such as hotels with an hour's notice on the 16th of November. They've now been told construction will take a year
Residents at Cardinal Lofts say they're in hell and being kept in the dark about what's going on.
Residents at Cardinal Lofts say their in hell and being kept in the dark about whats going on.
The residents of the top 3 floors of Cardinal lofts were forced to leave with an hour's notice on the 16th of November. They were told work needed to be done to fix the fire safety problems the building has.
A month later and many residents are still living out of hotels with no information of when they will be put into suitable temporary accommodation, only being told they are still looking for accommodation and now they expect the work to fix the safety problems to take 12 months.
So far, the residents have been told they will be able to stay in the accommodation they have now, until the 28th of February, which means, many will spend Christmas and New Years away from home.
We spoke to Viv Sharman, a resident at Cardinal Lofts, who also has properties he manages and rents there too. He told us he isn't surprised.
"We weren't surprised. I mean, the fact that they told us first it's a couple of weeks. We knew it was nonsense and then they changed the date to the 4th of Jan. Then they changed the 28th of February.
"I've been saying long to them 'look, just be honest. We know what the problems are', well we know some of the problems. Obviously, they don't discuss with us what all the problems are, 'but it's gonna take you a lot longer.
"Nothing's gonna be done before Christmas because you've got to get the material, people of on the other jobs and people wind down before Christmas so let's let's admit that it's gonna take a minimum of a year - two years. '
"And they kept on saying 'no, no, we're optimistic.'
"I honestly couldn't tell you what they're doing and we have very limited information on what is happening there."
Even though the residents are not living in their apartments they are still expected to pay their mortgages.
Some of the tenants who have been put up in hotels are having to buy food or go out to eat as they do not have access to a kitchen. As well as spending money on laundry services.
Viv told us the costs are growing rapidly and they're not receiving any help.
"Obviously, they're in alternative accommodation. There are a lot of tenants that are refusing to pay the rent, but the problem is the landlords are getting stuck with not having rent come in the service charges.
"We haven't had a bill yet because they're obviously a bit behind, but they're still got buy-to-let mortgages on them, so there's going to be a bit of a black hole in people's finances.
"They haven't like, exactly said 'look, don't worry. We're gonna help you, or do anything.' They're very economical with any information."
Tennants are worried the cost of this renovation is going to come back to them
Previously tenants have faced 'service charges' for work that has been completed in Cardinal Lofts. Viv told us the lack of communication and unanswered questions is adding to the stress of the situation.
"There is a possibility, but I think the worst thing is, we're not sure where they're gonna try and charge this all back in the service charges.
"And they were meant to get the building safety fund. They kept on telling us, telling us that they had done it.
"They haven't signed for it because what we've been told is that they found the terms too onerous.
"Which, if you read between the lines could mean that they don't want to be transparent with what the costs are actually going to be.
"So they've come up with a budget of something like £7 million to just do the remediation work which seems a bit excessive.
"But listen, honestly, we're not in that business, so we're not 100% sure.
"The main thing is this uncertainty, and a lot of people like myself have put their life savings into their home and stuff like that. "So we've always been trying to reduce our mortgage payment amounts by putting in every single month and then to have that taken away.
"We don't know whether we're going to get that right.
"Supposing they decide to knock down the top three floors, which is a possibility and they're talking about that.
"That means they’ve got to come up with a price to take us out and buy our apartment we don’t know what the prices are going to be.
"There’s all these things. There are all these question marks.
"When you've been working, your whole adult life and you want to use your home as your pension, so that when you retire you've got your mortgage free and stuff like that, it's a worrying time."
They are hoping to get more information after Christmas.