Residents still waiting for combustible cladding to be removed from building five years on

Fozia had lived in her newly-bought flat in Oldham for just three months when she was told to pack up her things and go.

Fire services slapped a prohibition order on the building, which they deemed ‘unsafe’.

Hoping the work – which involved replacing fire doors, a fire alarm system and ‘combustible materials’ in the external cladding – wouldn’t take long, Fozia took a room at a student accommodation block in Manchester.

The 49-year-old has now been there for almost five years.

“My time at the flat – it feels like a delusion. I blinked and it was over,” Fozia Malik said.

“Sometimes I forget I even have a flat. And every time I go there I cry.”

Fozia, a health practitioner and care worker who bought the £60k flat as her first home, is one of 32 leaseholders at the Victory Apartments in the town centre.

For almost five years, the group has been waiting for the building owner Drake Hall Ltd and their maintenance firms to take action – all while paying thousands of pounds in maintenance fees every year.

These rack up to around £1,700 every six months.

Meaning Fozia has spent around £15,300 on a building she hasn’t lived in since 2020.

Then there’s the £500 she’s paying in rent for her current accommodation.

“This has been going on for five years,” Fozia said.

“And they are taking money from us. Where is our money going?

"We’re paying for ‘maintenance’ but when I visited my flat recently, everything was ruined – everything is rotting.
“It’s like they’re bullying us.

"They think they are Gods and they can do anything.”

RMG, who have managed the block since the end of 2021, say the maintenance fees have gone towards a ‘major refurb’ after the building was found in a ‘state of disrepair’.

But according to Fozia, the situation has left her and other leaseholders ‘traumatised’.

Susan and Lee Ashworth, both in their seventies, invested in two flats at the Victory block around fifteen years ago as part of their retirement plan.

And everything was going well – until the notice was issued.

“It really affected us because we then had to pay the management fees and all the bills but weren’t receiving any income,” Lee said.

“If we hadn’t had any other properties to rely on, we would have gone bust.”

Lee, who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia, and his wife who has a serious brain condition, say the stress of dealing with the management firms has taken a serious toll on them emotionally, too.

Holding back tears as she spoke to the LDRS in her living room in Royton, Susan said: “I just despair with it.

"The two flats together are worth about 100k each, so that’s 200k.

“If I could just give the keys back and say ‘keep it’, I would take the loss – just stop mithering me.

"Stop sending me letters.

"But I can’t. It’s not like a mortgage company where you can default on it.”

As soon as the safety certificate is issued, the couple say they intend to sell the flats.

They’re not the only ones.

Scott Weston, 61, also plans to flog his apartment as soon as the issue is resolved.

The Northamptonshire based landlord has lost £500 a month while the building has remained vacant – though he says he’s ‘lucky’ to have other sources of income.

Scott said: “The prohibition was put on which was quite right because the building wasn’t safe.

"I was going through a divorce at the time, so couldn’t really engage with what was going on.

“But the worst part for me was that I had a perfectly good tenant in my flat, they were brilliant.

"They were a lovely couple.

"She was pregnant when I had to evict them, I had no choice. I felt so sorry for them. It was awful.”

For the last two years, Scott has been trying to get things moving with the RMG, the landlord and the fire service to get the building reopened.

“It’s not been going very well,” he said.

“RMG aren’t straightforward. Within the last six months they have actually tried to do something – but only after immense pressure.

"They never tell us any information.

“I’ve even tried going through the ombudsman process.

"But in the end, it was a toothless tiger.”

The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service did not wish to comment on the situation.

But a spokesperson noted that the GMFRS had issued an enforcement notice in July 2024, which ordered the works to be completed by November 2024.

An investigation is currently underway into the failure to comply with the enforcement notice.

A spokesperson for RMG said “RMG was appointed to manage the building after residents had been decanted, and we have been working hard since to ensure it can safely reopen as soon as possible.

“The compartmentation works were complex, and the way in which they must be funded in line with the Building Safety Act is a time-consuming process, but we’ve worked closely with the landlord to ensure they are now complete.

“When we took over management of the building, it was also in a state of disrepair and we have needed to complete major refurbishments, in addition to the fire safety works, which has also contributed to service charge costs.

"Without service charges, we cannot complete any of the works required to reopen the building.

“In order to lift the prohibition notice, the fire service requires the doors to each apartment to be upgraded and this is the responsibility of the leaseholders.

"We understand the financial pressure this may cause, so RMG has provided financial support to ensure the reopening of the building is not delayed.

"We are currently on track to finish these works by mid-July and they will then be subject to an assessment and final confirmation from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service for the prohibition to be lifted.

“We recognise how difficult this situation has been for residents and have great sympathy for the position they are in.

"We have remained committed to getting this building back open as soon as possible throughout the whole process and have continued to keep everyone informed through regular written updates and resident meetings.”

A planning application to remove the combustible cladding was submitted in April and approved by Oldham Council earlier this week.

---

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.