Council agrees to pay up after residents wait seven years for repairs

Haringey Council has pledged to “learn lessons” from a botched renovation of neighbouring Tottenham housing blocks that caused cracks to appear on people’s balconies.

The council-owned blocks, in Headcorn Road and Tenterden Road, were renovated in 2015 by Haringey Council-appointed contractors, but cracks immediately began to appear in panels surrounding their balconies.

After paying between £12,000 and £24,000 to have their homes brought up to the ‘decent homes’ standard – a government standard for social housing – leaseholders in the blocks feared they would have to pay extra to have the problems fixed.

The council has now pledged to the residents they will not have to pay for the repairs. But there are also “major concerns” over hefty increases to service charges being paid by leaseholders.

Barbara Cordwell, chair of Headcorn Tenterden Beaufoy Gretton Residents’ Association, said that when the balconies were renovated under the 2015 contract, a plastic capping immediately began to lift in the heat and allowed water to seep in. She said the residents’ association had told the council about the issues straightaway.

“The balconies are internal,” Barbara explained. “If there are any problems, it is going to cause damage to the structure of the building.”

Although she repeatedly complained to the council, Barbara said she struggled to get a response. Finally, in September this year, a new contractor appointed by the council examined the balcony capping and said it was “not suitable” and that “the whole balcony surround would need replacing”.

Barbara said the issue would have been addressed if the residents’ association had been involved in signing off the contract, as had previously been agreed. She added that leaseholders were left feeling “frustrated” and fearing they would have to pay for the contractor’s “negligence”, as the council had not previously confirmed whether they would be liable.

The residents’ association chair said there were also “major concerns” among residents over estimated leasehold service charges of £1,718 for 2021/22, including an increase of £721.22 for her property. She said she had been waiting for nine months after querying repairs for 2020/21 but had not received a cost breakdown.

Dana Carlin, Haringey Council’s cabinet member for house services, private renters and planning, said she was “very concerned” about the problems with the balconies and “determined to ensure we have more robust processes in place and that lessons are learnt to avoid this happening again”.

Cllr Carlin added: “An independent consultant has been appointed to investigate and recommend any corrective works that are necessary. We expect the highest standards for our residents and therefore leaseholders will not be made to pay for previous works to be rectified, or for any subsequent damage.

“The service charges which have been raised and are of a considerable increase do not relate to any historic works. These charges, in the main, relate to fire safety works which have resulted from an intrusive fire risk assessment and are paramount to the safety of our residents.”