Camden New Journal - Letters: Estate flaw

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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published:9 August 2007

Estate flaws known from start

• YOUR report (Bungling contracts double estate’s bill, August 2) is one of two recently about the Whittington estate.
Most of the criticism about the building contractors here comes from a group of leaseholders who are either waiting to sell their flats as first-time buyers or who fear the value of their leasehold will lessen due to the discovery of fatal flaws created during the building of this estate.
A few have let out their flats in order to be able to pay their mortgages on a house. Who will rent a flat surrounded by scaffolding? I am not denying leaseholders have rights as well. Up to six architects have been attracted here for aesthetic reasons because of the unusual architecture of the flats blueprinted by a young pioneering Finnish architect.
Yes, deadlines have come and gone but that is not due to bungling but rather to the builders discovering some of these flaws. It is generally known that the Whittington estate is an example of how not to build flats. One block in particular has seen one of its sides sink into the ground, distorting balconies. Put a spirit level on many of the floors and you find they tilt causing objects to roll off tables. Water was seeping into the garages from 1979 onwards when the estate had just been finished and handed over to Camden Council.
The general drainage system has always been a disaster with lower ground flats flooding over the years. It is much the same with the drainage system in the underground garages. With each shower of rain areas are under water. The building contractors and council have tried to remedy this over the past two years but with very few results. Reconstructing the drains could cost a few millions alone.
There are also conflicts of interest between leaseholders and tenants with the tenants association dominated by a small group of leaseholders. General meetings are regularly hijacked with the interests of the tenants thwarted on a regular basis. Such things as a campaign against the steep rise in rents has become impossible.
A bill of weekly tariffs starts with the basic rent and is followed by seven more items which includes caretaker service, communal lighting, grounds maintenance, mobile security patrol and, with each rent rise another item is liable to be added. Many of us felt we were already paying for these services from within the rent. These new items are seen by many tenants as an underhand method of raising the rents even more.
With the present building contractors the work would probably have been completed in about eight months. Now with talk of a new building contractor coming in, we will be shrouded in scaffolding and with building debris lying around until early 2009. We have all lost out.
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Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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