A mother-of-four has had her rent increased by £600 a year, just months after being struck by an £85,000 bill for fire safety repair costs, writes Herbie Russell…
In October, primary school teacher Emma McGovern, leaseholder at Oyster Court, Walworth, told the News of her dismay at being lumped with the costs of post-Grenfell fire safety improvements.
Family of six risks losing home after being hit with £85,000 cladding bill
Now, housing association landlord Opitvo are demanding that she and her family cough up an extra £600 a year. She said: “All of us were really shocked that they’ve put an increase on our rent given how much stress we’ve been through with the cladding.”
In October 2021, the News reported that Emma had been been given what she described as “comedy bill” of £85,000.
In November, already reeling from the shock of that staggering financial blow, she was told to pay an additional £56,000.
When the government announced in January that housing developers should pay for cladding removal costs, Emma described it as a “step in the right direction”.
But two months later, their block remains coated in dangerous cladding and there’s been no indication from Optivo that they intend to pay for its removal.
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Now, with this rent hike, Optivo’s squeeze continues, prolonging the nightmare for Oyster Court residents.
Emma also noted that she’d been charged £28.19 per month for ‘communal fire prevention’ and says it’s unclear where this charge has come from.
In October, a spokesperson from activist group End Our Cladding Scandal said: “We challenge the Prime Minister to spend even a week forced to live in a home that has been retrospectively deemed unsafe.
“To receive a bill many multiples of his annual salary to fix serious defects that he played no part in causing.
“Then tell us how it feels to be worried day and night for his family.”
In total, Oyster Court’s bill stands at £2.6 million, which includes cost for the removal of cladding, balcony decking, cavity barriers and adding fire stopping at window abutments.
A spokesperson for Optivo told the News: “Our priority is to support our residents and we’d encourage anybody who is worried about their finances to speak to our dedicated teams who are there to help.
“We annually review the rent of our shared owners in line with their lease. We’ve capped the increase the lease allows this year as we’re aware of the impact of cost of living rises.
“Our residents at Oyster Court have not been asked to pay for fire remediation works to their building façade. We wrote to leaseholders last year and explained the costs of the proposed works as this is a legal requirement.
“We’ve been clear we’ve not billed residents for this work. Since this letter was sent, the Government has introduced new fire safety guidance. We’ll be reassessing Oyster Court against this new fire safety guidance and imminent legislation. Our approach to fire safety will remain proportionate and we’ll only carry out works where they’re required.
“Optivo has been working hard to protect our leaseholders by pursuing developers and other third parties for costs. We welcome the recent announcements from government to help us achieve positive outcomes for these efforts along with their other measures to protect leaseholders from costs.”
