Trident Point leaseholders asked for £25k to remove cladding

Those living in Harrow’s Trident Point said it is “unfair” they should be expected to bear these costs when they assumed the building was completely safe when they bought their properties. 

The cladding issue also means they are struggling to sell their homes to escape the situation, while most banks will not offer new mortgage rates to ease any financial pressures.

Leaseholder Mohammad Salehi, who has lived in the building for six years, said he feels “trapped” with nobody willing to help out. 

He said: “They won’t allow us to sell or even make it easier for us to sell, banks won’t let us remortgage so we’re stuck on high rates – basically we are doomed. 

“Money is one thing, but it’s also taking a toll on people’s mental health. We feel locked in and I just want to get it sorted out one way or another.”

Read more: Council to install new fire safety doors in more than 400 flats

Mr Salehi explained each flat would be expected to pay up to £25,000 to cover the cladding removal costs – this figure could drop with external grants, but each household would still face bills of thousands of pounds.

But he believes responsibility should lie with those who built the block and gave assurances it was fire safe, arguing removal fees would be “peanuts to them”. 

He also urged the Government to offer more support, either financially or in terms of helping them take on construction firms. 

Mr Salehi added: “Why should we be expected to pay when we are the victims in this? We were told everything was guaranteed when we bought the flat. It’s not our fault.

“It’s hard to get everyone to agree to pay the costs – nobody wants to pay and some people just can’t afford it. 

“We don’t have the power to fight against these people but MPs should be pushing in Parliament to support us.”

Following the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017, ministers announced plans to remove all potentially unsafe cladding from tall buildings across the UK. 

They explained the removal of aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding – the same put up around Grenfell Tower – would be completely covered by the Government, but the costs for non-ACM buildings would only be partially funded.  

Harrow West MP Gareth Thomas called on the Government to agree to resolve the situation by June 2022, as proposed by the Labour Party earlier this year. 

He said: “It is nearly four years since the Grenfell Tower tragedy claimed some 72 lives, yet hundreds of thousands of families still live in unsafe, unsellable homes, and many leaseholders face crippling debts, through no fault of their own.

“Given that this was the biggest building scandal in modern UK history, why did the Prime Minister order his MPs to vote down our efforts to get this scandal sorted once and for all?”

He was supported by Cllr Phillip O’Dell, who is responsible for housing at Harrow Council, who said he had heard “worrying stories” of people in the borough being asked to stump up thousands to pay for fire safety repairs. 

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government said: “We’ve been clear throughout that owners and industry should make buildings safe without passing costs on to leaseholders – and our new measures will introduce a legal requirement for owners of high-rise buildings to prove they have tried all routes to cover the cost of fixing their buildings.

“This is on top of our £5 billion fund to fix unsafe cladding in the highest risk buildings and our government-backed scheme that will mean leaseholders in buildings between 11 and 18 metres will pay no more than £50 a month for these costs.

“We will also ensure that the industry help to fund the costs of fixing historical safety defects including unsafe cladding on high-rise buildings.”

Planning permission for Trident Point – previously known as Neptune Point – was granted on appeal in 2009 after Harrow Council initially rejected the proposals.

Developer Ardmore has been contacted for comment.