The untold misery of thousands of leaseholders living in badly built apartment blocks

Martin Shipton

A leaseholder whose life has been made hell by a systemic failure in the design and construction of the apartment block in which she is trapped has called for the introduction of a licensing system for builders.

Gwen – not her real name – is a member of the Welsh Cladiators campaign group that was set up in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, in which 72 people died after fire spread through the building because inflammable cladding was used in its construction.

Mark Thomas, the lead campaigner in the group, said: “In destroying so many lives the tragedy also exposed major problems that affect thousands of homes in Wales and England. The fire cladding scandal evolved into a building safety crisis and more recently a remediation crisis.

“Grenfell also highlighted the gross injustices associated with the feudal leasehold system that prevails over many Welsh and English impacted housing developments. This has left many homeowners trapped in a dystopian world of complex legal liabilities and ever-increasing service charge costs.

“Many are trapped. Young and old are unable to sell or move on with their lives. Set against these enormous political and institutional failures the voice of the ordinary victim is seldom heard. Yet Gwen has provided compelling testimony on the crisis to the Welsh Government’s Minister for Housing Jayne Bryant and the Senedd’s Local Government and Housing Committee.”

To protect the identity and location of the individual – incredibly many Welsh victims still fear they can be attacked on social media for highlighting the problems in their developments – we have removed their location and changed their name.

It is a story that lays bare the injustice and brutality that has fallen on a decent and hardworking citizen who did everything right. There are thousands more like her in Wales.

Gwen said: “I live alone in a studio flat, in one of our major Welsh cities. I purchased my home in 2007 for £130K, I was a mature student studying at the city’s university. I’m now a pensioner.

“The flat was meant to be completed in 2006, but the builders went bust and I finally moved in the following year. My initial reaction was that the quality of the finish looked cheap. Then the snags soon began to appear – the balcony drained the wrong way, so water pooled below the decking. Doors wouldn’t close. The water pressure was poor. The carpet had to be re-laid, and the underlay was for laminate flooring which meant the carpet rode up when the flat got hot in the summer.

“Some electrical switches were 7ft high. A landline couldn’t be connected as the internal cabling was wrongly installed. There was no shower screen for weeks. When the balcony was re-laid, the builder spilt fibreglass on my carpet.

“Then the windows began to leak. They let in not just air, but the rain, which damaged the carpet and kitchen floor. I had towels beneath the faulty windows, which had been installed incorrectly by a company, which had of course, also gone bust.

“Arguments went on for months as to who would pay to replace them. When new windows were installed six months after moving in, some subsequently cracked. The lift repeatedly broke down and was eventually out of action for six months. An engineer told me it was an office lift and not designed for a residential building.

“There were leaks from the roof which have gone on for years throughout the building, including into my flat. The water heaters, which were too big for studio flats and expensive to run, hadn’t been wired in correctly and frequently burst causing floods in the floors below. This led to increases in our insurance premiums, which remain high, currently £130,000 [in total for the block] even after we were subsequently ordered by the management agent to remove the water heaters at our expense!

“Not that we knew it then, but the fire doors had gaps around them, the fire alarm system needed to be replaced, again at our expense, there were missing fire breaks in the ceilings and flammable High-Pressure Laminate cladding on the outside.”

Lawyers

Gwen abandoned her flat for the first winter but received no compensation for being unable to live in it or rent it out for several months.

She said: “The management agents were initially the lawyers for the developer. They were then replaced by a company which operated from the same building as the developer. It was clear whose interests they were working for. They were eventually fired about a year ago. Things have since improved with a new management agent.

“Service charges leapt up and as we’ve never had an Annual General Meeting (AGM) we’ve been unable to challenge decisions. Service charges for my studio flat were £670 pa in 2007 and are now £2750 pa. We even pay £42,000 pa for a live-in caretaker who is paid minimum wage, who we never see. I’ve also never seen the developer who is the landlord.

“What began as a nightmare ended up as a battle against the cowboys in the Wild West. I’ve tried several times to sell my property. Only four of the 30 flats in this part of the building have ever changed hands in the last 18 years. All at a huge loss. Everyone is in negative equity despite the massive increase in house prices during that period.

“By 2019 I had too many caring responsibilities for my mother in another town some 170 miles away, so I moved back to look after her, not realising my flat would sit empty for two and a half years until my mum sadly passed away. I paid service charges of course, all that time.

“I had two offers to buy the flat during the Covid lockdown. One was a cash offer of £75K. But I accepted an offer of £100K from a buyer who needed a mortgage, without knowing about the need for an External Wall Safety form. The buyer then waited two years for the survey to take place but eventually pulled out.

“My flat was then marketed with an auction guide price of £63K but without the survey, nobody put in an offer. The survey eventually happened some three years after it became a requirement. The building failed, though it was reported that the cladding might not need to be removed. Thirty months later there’s been little progress, although we learnt recently that the cladding will now need to be removed.

“In 2024 I turned down an offer of £30K from a landlord and £40K from a property company. I approached the developer, knowing they already owned several flats in the building, but was told they wouldn’t go over £40K. The flat was valued with an auction guide price of £43K. I then received a cash offer from a landlord of £55K which I accepted but, in the end, I decided I couldn’t endure a £75K loss and so pulled out.

“In 2025 my property was on the market for £70K (an improvement) If I sold, after paying the agent’s fees, I’d have lost half of my initial investment. But despite several viewings, no potential buyer would put in an offer, without knowing the plan for remedial work.

“Despite the loss of value, I’ve paid B and D Council Tax for 18 years on a 45 sqm studio flat. I pay more than most family homes in Swansea and don’t even get rubbish and recycling collections. We pay for this in our service charges. I’ve challenged the Band D rate three times and have always been rejected.

“Nobody should buy a property speculatively and expect huge gains. This has fuelled the housing crisis. But equally nobody expects to lose their life savings through no fault of their own. This was my pension which I’ll never get back.

“The building industry needs to be held to account. Nobody has taken responsibility for the deaths of 72 people in Grenfell Tower through the use of dangerous materials or for the destruction of the lives of hundreds of thousands of flat owners, whose homes can only be sold at great loss to cash rich buyers and landlords.

“The government’s decision to require external and intrusive surveys, the lenders’ refusal to lend without a clear remediation plan and management agents’ inability to obtain tenders for work because of delays, has strangled the market for flats.

“Meanwhile the developers, many refusing to fix defects or contribute to the costs of remedial works, are allowed to continue building new homes of dubious quality. When much of this fire safety work is completed, the market will be flooded with flats after years of owners being unable to sell. This oversupply will inevitably reduce values.

“As leaseholders, we simply can’t win or move forwards. We can’t fight the greedy developers or challenge surveyors for delaying the progress of works. Our lives are derailed by corporate greed and bureaucracy, let down by the system, just like the victims of the contaminated blood and Post Office scandals.

“For me, with no family, maybe the financial loss matters less. While I love my flat, I’m tired of the building issues and endless battles and delays. For the thousands of unheard people trapped in unsafe flats, paying extortionate service charges, unable to either start families or downsize as they age, many struggling with their mental health, others simply wanting to move on in life, I’m asking on their behalf: please get this mess fixed, not over another eight years, but right now.

“I’d suggest starting with licensing builders. This unregulated and toxic industry has allowed developers to profit at the expense of homeowners who are left high and dry, trying to get substandard, shoddy and dangerous workmanship put right.

“Meanwhile the cowboys are riding off into the distance, leaving a massive trail of destruction behind them.

“All of us here, along with thousands of leaseholders, are still desperate for your help. We want justice.”

Inquiry

The Grenfell Tower Inquiry phase 2 report was published in 2025 and included a recommendation for the licensing of principal contractors wishing to undertake the construction or refurbishment of higher risk buildings.

A progress report on the implementation of the Grenfell Inquiry recommendations is due before the end of the current Senedd term in April.