Council defends repair bill after leaseholders challenge works with independent survey

The “staggering” bills are “more than some of the leaseholders make in a year”, according to Helen Rowbottom, a Hammersmith and Fulham councillor who met leaseholders in February and asked officials to stop the works.

Inside Housing understands that window replacement works are also taking place in two other council-owned blocks: Brent Court and Becklow Gardens Estate.

Hammersmith and Fulham defended the bills, explaining that they were part of a wider repairs programme which included building safety fixes that leaseholders were not paying for. The council is also offering interest-free repayment plans of up to four years for the charges.

A council source said: “We’re doing the right thing as a landlord.”

In 2021, the borough appointed Kier, the construction company, to deliver £75m worth of housing repair and fire safety works on its homes over five years.

The following year, the council told leaseholders it was installing scaffolding on Verulam House to remove unsafe cladding, which was paid for by the government.

At the same time, the council said it had decided to replace 26-year-old windows on the building because they were nearing “end of life”.

However, residents had an independent surveyor assess the UPVC windows in December 2023, who said the windows “are not reaching the end of their useful life and do not need to be replaced”.

The surveyor’s report, seen by Inside Housing, said rubber seals in some of the windows required maintenance, but these repairs could be carried out for between £500 and £1,000.

Leaseholders of Verulam House also said they had already been charged between £15,000 and £20,000 per flat over the past four to six years for a new roof, new lift, interior renovation and new front doors.

Under the rules of Right to Buy, leaseholders must pay for certain repair works on ex-council flats they own. Most residents of the Hammersmith and Fulham properties are social tenants who have not been billed for repairs.

Inside Housing also saw a risk assessment the council did of the block, valid from 2022 to October 2024. It “did not identify any conspicuous features or fixings that would adversely affect the level of risk at the premises”.

The council said it had found compartmentation issues behind the cladding when it was removed.

In April, Ms Rowbottom told council officers that many leaseholders “are considering selling their homes because they cannot afford the monthly payments, and reject the premise and cost of the windows”.

“Many are simply unable to pay that amount of money; it is equivalent to their annual income,” she wrote. “There has also been an increase in costs since the works began.”

A Hammersmith and Fulham Council spokesperson said: “We are currently undertaking a £1.4m-a-week refurbishment programme of our homes – including required upgrades to cladding and windows, roofing, structural repairs, electrical infrastructure, lift upgrades and fire safety enhancements such as fire doors, sprinklers and evacuation systems. We have a legal duty as a landlord to ensure our buildings are safe and kept in good repair for all residents.

“The building safety works are already being undertaken at no cost to leaseholders and they are only being requested for a 49% contribution to the total costs of the work to Verulam House. To assist and support homeowners, the council offers sympathetic repayment options.”

Inside Housing reported at the end of last month how a shared owner had been hit with a cladding bill of up to £23,000 as her low-rise house does not fall under protections in the Building Safety Act.