‘Glimmer of hope’ for leaseholders as Get Living ordered to pay £18m for remediation work after ‘profound’ tribunal ruling

Repairs on East Village began last year, while a further 33 buildings need work, with costs still being assessed.

The Olympic Park Homes Action Group, which represents some of the residents affected, told Inside Housing  that the judgment was “damning”.

The group said: “Get Living has known for years that it owns the company that developed East Village. Instead of acting swiftly, it has sought to rely on the taxpayer to clear up its mistakes and maximise returns to investors.

“The judgment is clear that neither the taxpayer nor leaseholders should have to fund remediation works where developers have the means and resources to do so.”

The group believes that as Get Living is backed by pension funds Aware Super and APG, as well as real estate investment fund Delancey, the firm has “the means and resources” to undertake the work. Delancey launched Get Living in 2013 as a property management company and currently acts as an investment advisor to one of Get Living’s shareholders.

The group continued: “As a leaseholder that has been trapped for the past five years with a flat that is unsaleable and unmortgageable, raising a young family in a crippling cost of living crisis, this judgment brings a glimmer of hope.

“We now urge Get Living to commit all necessary funds to remediate the other 33 buildings that remain unremediated across East Village. No appeals, no ifs, no buts – put the safety of all East Village residents above all else,” the group added.

Get Living had argued throughout the tribunal that it had never suggested residents would pay and that Triathlon’s costs would be funded by the BSF.

Triathlon welcomed the judgment as “a win for leaseholders and for Michael Gove’s flagship Building Safety Act”.

Kath King, managing director at Triathlon Homes, said the decision recognises the “terrible uncertainty” into which East Village leaseholders have been “plunged” by the discovery of building defects, and “creates a clear precedent”.

She continued: “We hope Get Living will now fund the remediation needed in the other East Village buildings and we can bring an end to the delays that have caused such misery for our residents.

“Although it will be some time before the work is complete, we hope that the certainty of funding will unlock the barriers that have prevented leaseholders from moving on in their lives.”

A spokesperson for Get Living said: “Our driving force remains to complete the remediation works in East Village, which are well underway, for the sake of all residents, be they Triathlon or Get Living. The decision from the first tier tribunal has no bearing on our commitment to continue this important work.”

“We are, of course, disappointed that the tribunal has deemed it ‘just and equitable’ that we be held responsible for remediation costs,” given that Get Living “did not build the development and was not responsible for the retrofit” of the athletes’ accommodation into homes after the 2012 Olympic Games.

The judgment also “recognises this”, the built-to-rent operator said, by acknowledging that Get Living “was not involved in, or privy, to any decisions around the design or construction of the buildings”.

The judgment stated that “responsibility [in the Building Safety Act] is not synonymous with fault”, Get Living pointed out, and “we continue to work hard to fix this problem we did not create, given the overriding importance of getting the works done”.

Get Living added: “The implications of this judgment are profound, not just for Get Living, but for the wider industry. We are reviewing our next steps, while pursuing claims against the responsible contractors and pushing ahead with our programme of remediation works in East Village.”