Cladding Crisis: Three Bristol homeowners ‘living in fear’ while trapped in unsafe buildings

The emotional toll on Bristolians affected by the cladding crisis has been laid bare after residents revealed the ‘all-consuming’ fear and financial stress they have been forced to endure while living in fire-risk buildings within the city.

It’s over four years since the Grenfell Tower disaster in London saw 72 people die in an apartment block fire that spread in seconds due to dangerous cladding.

The tragedy remains fresh in peoples’ minds, but leaseholders who say they are living with similar fire safety defects throughout their buildings, such as flammable cladding and insufficient fire breaks, face further distress on top of fearing for their lives.

Many have been told they could be hit with thousands of pounds in costs to fix the safety defects they weren’t even aware were there when they purchased their properties.

A recent survey by Thangam Debonnaire MP found that 15 of 18 taller buildings in West Bristol alone were still waiting for news on their applications to the Building Safety Fund, set up to help ease financial strain on leaseholders.

Buildings below 18 metres in height do not qualify for this funding, but fire safety issues mean that some leaseholders say they are still ‘trapped’ as they struggle to sell their apartments.

Here, BristolWorld investigates the issue in Bristol by looking at three cases across three different sites:

‘I spend every spare hour I have trying to fight for justice’

Steph Pike owns a flat in the Milliners building in Redcliffe

Estimated cost to fix issues: £7.6million

“There have been several issues identified with my building relating to historic fire safety defects. These include flammable insulation, a small amount of ACM cladding [banned by the Government in 2018], timber balconies and missing cavity areas.

“I have to live with being in what is supposedly a flammable building, the fear of the building going up in flames and not having enough time to get out. But what’s almost worse than that is the financial uncertainty. We’ve been told the cost to fix the building is £7.6million and my share of that would be £70,000 - £80,000.

“It’s terrifying that I could be handed a bill for that amount and asked to pay it within 28 days, I wouldn’t be able to do it. It’s causing a chronic stress that is always hanging over me and has taken over my entire life. I’m spending every spare hour I have trying to fight for justice because it’s such an unfair situation.

“What I want is for the innocent leaseholders to not have to pay for the costs, they’re not responsible for this. They didn’t build the buildings. We bought our flats which are self-contained units within the buildings. I want the people who are causing this issue to pay, but that’s complicated in itself as there are so many people you could deem responsible.

“Then we have the Government who have deregulated the construction industry over the years. I don’t know who should pay exactly, but it’s not us - we were merely sold a building that we were told complied when it doesn’t.”

Blenheim, responded on behalf of freeholders Grey GR Limited Partnership.

The company said Grey carried out an external wall survey of the building last year which showed up the presence of combustible materials. Further investigation found combustible insulation on floors one to five, along with a lack of correctly-installed cavity barriers and timber products.

A statement from the company said: “The safety of residents at The Milliners is a priority for Grey. This is a terrible situation which neither the leaseholders nor Grey have caused.

“Whether it is the system of building regulations that has failed or poor construction standards, the cost of putting these issues right will need to be met through the service charge, unless another third party can be found to have legal liability, or the government provides sufficient grant funding.

It continued: “The safety of residents in their homes has been and remains Grey’s principal concern.

“Grey have been actively involved with the process to make sure that the building is made safe as quickly as possible and made sure that correct steps have been put in place to protect leaseholders from the costs. Grey has from the outset appointed independent surveyors and fire safety experts to ensure that it was acting on the best possible advice.”

‘Sometimes I wake up in the night and it’s all I can think about’

Sarah Rowlands part-owns a flat in Quay Point near The Centre

Estimated cost to fix issues: £2.8million

“I’m a 30 per cent shared owner in a flat that is owned by a housing association.

“We were told there were no issues as late as October last year, as we had been asking questions. We were then told in February this year that we needed an external wall survey, which was a shock- that was when the stress started.

“The results came back in June this year that the building is missing fire breaks which it should have had according to legislation at the time. The insulation is combustable and there’s a whole host of other internal works to be done as well. Since June we’ve been chasing for information on when the work is going to start.

“The housing association applied to the Building Safety Fund and now we’re just playing the waiting game. It’s really, really hard. One of the positive things is the people in our building have banded together.

“We haven’t had any bills yet, but it’s so stressful. My share was only £51,000, I had a £5,000 deposit. The whole point of the shared ownership scheme is for people who can’t afford the full price of housing. It was cheaper for me to buy than to rent and now we’ve been told it will cost around £2.8million to fix the building, around £58,000 per flat.

“Sometimes I wake in the night and it’s all I can think about. You hear a funny noise or smell something and think, is that the building burning? It’s a full-time job trying to find information and people who will help you out.”

Sovereign Housing Association response

The housing association said it was working closely with Homes England and the Government on behalf of customers, as it waits the outcome of its funding application.

Tony Quigley, home ownership director, said: “Above all, at Sovereign, we want our customers to feel safe.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep costs down and to rectify any issues identified at the property, including absorbing the costs of repairs that are currently being undertaken and applying to the Building Safety Fund.

“We do understand that the length of time that it takes to access funding for repairs and the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of that application is distressing for some of our residents.

“We can reassure Sarah and our other customers in Quay Point that we’ve liaised with the local Fire Service, specialist fire safety experts and surveyors to make sure that the building remains safe while we await the outcome of our funding application.”

Anonymous: ‘The fire alarm went off and people were terrified’

A leaseholder who did not want to give their name owns a flat in The Zone near Temple Meads

Estimated cost to fix issues: Unknown

“My building is under 18 metres so does not qualify for funding from the Building Safety Fund, but an EWS1 report was carried out and found that the building has a B2 rating. Apparently the issues were more to do with the fire breaks than the cladding.

“Barratt Homes, who developed The Zone, now want to carry out their own report but we’ve been told we aren’t permitted to see these findings.

“My apartment is worth around £300,000 but a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors-approved surveyor told me they would value it at zero.

“Tenants could face millions and millions in costs to remediate safety defects that might not even need doing. I am basically trapped and feel like a prisoner in my home. I have a pet dog who is my entire world and I’ve installed a camera in the flat so I can keep checking in.

“I’ve seen how quickly fire can spread through a building like this. The fire alarm went off one evening recently and you could see that everyone gathered outside the building was terrified, worried that the building would just explode into flames. I’ve been in tears and don’t know where to turn.”

Barratt Homes response

The developer said it was working with the Residents Management Company to carry out investigations of the building, adding it would share its finding with the group before finding a ‘suitable solution’.

A spokesperson added: “We are extremely sympathetic to the challenges being faced by leaseholders and residents at The Zone, and across the country, who are impacted by the cladding crisis.

“We do not believe that leaseholders should be responsible for funding necessary remediation work at their developments.”

What the Department for Housing, Communities and Levelling Up said

The Government is providing £5 billion to remove unsafe cladding in the highest risk buildings and has so far confirmed more than 700 buildings as eligible for funding, with estimated remediation costs of more than £2.5 billion.

It is going through the remaining application ‘as quickly as possible’, a spokesperson said.

They added: “It is unacceptable and unfair that leaseholders are facing excessive bills. They are innocent parties in this and we recognise the impact it can have on their mental health. As the Secretary of State has made clear, we are committed to ensuring they are supported and we will be setting out further proposals in due course.

“Most blocks of flats are safe and do not need expensive works, and we continue to drive extreme risk aversion out of the market by encouraging a more proportionate, evidence-based approach.”

MP: “I cannot begin to imagine the stress’

Thagnam Debonnaire, MP for West Bristol, surveyed constituents who had written to her office about dangerous cladding on their buildings and said she was ‘shocked’ by her findings:

• 15 of 18 taller buildings are still waiting for news on their applications to the Building Safety Fund, which opened for applications in July last year
• One in five people responding only own part of their flats – yet many of them are being hit with the full cost of fixing safety defects.
• Government guidance says buildings below 18m in height don’t need a special ‘EWS1’ survey, but residents of at least 10 different buildings said this is still a barrier to getting a mortgage

The MP said: “The cladding crisis is not over yet. My office recently surveyed Bristol residents affected, and the results show how thousands of lives have been put on hold by this government’s broken promises. According to the survey, there are 18 buildings eligible for help from the Building Safety Fund, but only three have had an answer. This means inhabitants of approximately 1,000 high-rise flats have been trapped in dangerous homes, waiting for many months to find out whether they face financial ruin.

“Despite all the assurances from the government or developers, 95 per cent of respondents do not feel the fire safety issues have been resolved completely. I can’t begin to imagine the stress of living with the worry that you could end up having to shell out multiple years of income to fix a house that was deemed safe when you brought it. The government seems to have forgotten the people affected by this scandal, instead stumbling on to other crises.”

Bristol Mayor: ‘This requires a national solution’

Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees said that the cladding crisis was ‘going to be a national question, because if we talk about financial support needed it has to come from a financial source.

But he added: “At local level, we have been reaching out to residents to try and make sure they are fully aware of the rights they have and where they can go for help and support. Councillors have been working to support them and I know that our MPs have. Much of this comes under Thangam Debbonaire’s patch and she has been raising the voice nationally, as we have with organisations like the local Government Association. We will do all we can, but this requires a national solution.”

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