Leasehold tribunals are known to be conservative in their rulings but this week’s ruling was utterly shameful. Leaseholders at Citiscape in Croydon were told to fund the replacement of unsafe flammable cladding out of their own pockets! The building is owned by the Tchenguiz interests, one of the wealthiest landowners in the country, but the tribunal could not find any grounds for them to foot the bill.
At least Sir Peter Bottomley, a fighter for leaseholders’ rights longer than anyone in the House of Commons, reacted to the injustice and challenged Sajid Javid to act. Watch here.
He called for the government to bring freeholders, developers and insurers together in a roundtable discussion to stop the deplorable buck-passing over who pays for urgent safety work. But six months after Grenfell, why are residents still left to fight their own battles?