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Legal battle over estate repairs
Home-owners say major tower work was delayed following Porter scandal
HOME-OWNERS fighting massive leaseholder bills for two estates in north Westminster have vowed to take housing managers to a tribunal in an unprecedented case.
Almost 500 leaseholders living in Warwick and Brindley estates face charges of up to £60,000 for major works they believe were delayed following the Homes for Votes scandal.
Karen Buck MP believes major works to estates were deliberately shelved in the wake of the Shirley Porter scandal so as “not to scare new homeowners”. She believes Westminster is launching a phase of major work that was originally planned for estates in the early 1990s.
She warned: “This has never been legally proved.”
But this week the leaseholders of the
Little Venice Towers revealed plans to use this as their chief legal argument in a Leaseholders Valuation Tribunal. Brian Pottle said: “These works should have been done soon after 1987. We think this is deliberate and we are in talks to take CityWest Homes to tribunal on grounds of historical neglect. This has never been done before.
“If we lose, we lose. But we can go down with a fight.”
A spokeswoman for CityWest Homes said it is still in the dark about the tribunal plan.
She warned: “There is no connection between so-called Homes for Votes and allegations of past neglect. Each time we plan work to a tower block, scaffolding costs alone amount to at least half a million pounds. The major works at the towers will drastically reduce future maintenance costs.”
CityWest Homes has written to leaseholders in the estate suggesting they sell their ex-right-to-buy flats back to the council for £235,000. |
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