Flat owners ‘living in fear of another Grenfell’

Flat owners have been left living in fear and unable to sell their homes after delays to replace cladding after the Grenfell disaster.

Transcript

00:00For those living at Kingfisher Meadow, it's easy to feel that you're trapped behind bars.

00:06Homeowner Aidan Martin has lived in the apartment complex for the last eight years.

00:12But recently, this has come at a cost.

00:15In 2020, we started seeing quite a lot of mortgage applications being turned down,

00:22forcing residents to remortgage with the same company without necessarily being able to

00:27get better offers from other mortgage lenders, simply because the cladding is deemed unsafe.

00:33If we do have a fire, and hopefully we don't, we'd be at significant risk.

00:39More practically, every time I try and remortgage my property, I need to just go with the best rate

00:44that my current lender offers me, because any new lender has always estimated that the value of my property is zero pounds.

00:52Following the Grenfell Tower fire in London, where 72 people died in part due to unsafe cladding,

00:58developers pledged to carry out fire safety works on similar buildings.

01:02But two and a half years later, Kingfisher Meadow is no closer to essential repairs.

01:07In the meantime, mortgages have been restricted, sales collapsed, and residents are no safer.

01:14Our homes should be a safe space.

01:16And currently, I don't really feel safe in my own home, through no fault of my own.

01:20I've now got a partner looking to start my own family, but unable to sell the property, move up the property ladder.

01:27This is supposed to be a stepping stone, but it's more of an anchor.

01:30I wanted to bring my son up in a different area. I've not been able to. I just feel trapped.

01:34I'm concerned I'm living in an unsafe building.

01:38And recently, we've now been deemed at such high risk.

01:42We've got a waking watch team here, which is just unbelievable.

01:46The hold-up has been caused by an ongoing legal dispute between the property developer and the freeholder.

01:52Asked for comment, the developer, Taylor Wimpey, said in a statement,

01:56Resident safety remains our top priority, and we fully understand the frustrations caused by delays.

02:02We remain fully committed to funding remedial works for fire safety critical elements of the development,

02:07and expediting all works as soon as possible.

02:09A spokesperson for the freeholder, Wallace Estates, said,

02:13Wallace Estates have been continuously engaged with the developer for several months now

02:17in an effort to get them to remediate all defective blocks, regardless of height at Kingfisher Meadow.

02:23In addition to the six blocks that the developer has committed to remediating,

02:27we have successfully agreed the remediation of a further block,

02:30and are in ongoing discussions with the developer in relation to a second.

02:34But during the uphill legal dispute, the residents remain boxed in,

02:38stuck in flats that place them at serious risk.

02:43Alfie Rowe for KMTV in Maidstone.