Camden Council has welcomed the outcome of a First-tier Tribunal to uphold a decision for “essential remedial works” at a block of flats.
The ruling follows an investigation carried out by the council and the London Fire Brigade at Princes Park Apartments in London, which is owned by Hazelwood Properties Limited.
The council said its Private Sector Housing Service had raised concerns about fire safety issues as early as June 2020, but “despite reassurances from managing agents, no action had been taken to remedy the fire safety issues”.
In October 2023, the council served Hazelwood with an Improvement Notice, which required the owners to carry out “essential remedial works on the building’s cladding and other fire safety deficiencies to safeguard its residents”.
A month later, the building owners lodged an appeal disputing the notice. The appeal was denied after the Tribunal deemed that the council’s fire safety concerns were “both reasonable and necessary to protect the safety of residents”.
On 25 October 2024, the council said in a news release: “In a decisive ruling, the Tribunal criticised the appellant’s failure to take action on critical fire safety issues. It was determined that Hazlewood Properties’ real objection was not the complexity of the work but the financial implications.”
Under the Improvement Notice, the building owners are required to commence the necessary works within 90 days and complete them within 360 days.
As reported by Inside Housing, the judge said: “We can only observe that this attitude also wholly fails to recognise the appellant’s basic repairing obligations under the lease.
“The claim that the appellant does not know what it needs to do is undermined by the mass of clear evidence in the bundle dating back as far as 2021, and is entirely implausible.”
Councillor Sagal Abdi-Wali, Cabinet Member for Better Homes at Camden Council said: “We are pleased with the Tribunal’s decision, which confirms that the safety of our residents must come first.
“Everyone deserves to live in a safe home, but all too often we see delays from building owners unwilling to act promptly, despite the risks to occupants.
“This ruling sends a clear message that we're taking action against sub-standard housing and private owners to ensure properties are made safe.”
The Local Government Association (LGA) Joint Inspection Team also supported the investigation and legal action, with the housing spokesperson for the LGA, Councillor Adam Hug explaining: “Councils are playing a vital role in making sure residents are safe – and feel safe – in their homes.
“The LGA established the Joint Inspection Team with Government support to ensure that councils have the expert support they need to tackle building owners who fail to meet their obligations to keep residents safe and to drive forward best practice in regulation. Camden’s success in this case shows the value of that support, which has now been provided in over 124 cases.”
The council added that the ruling was a “significant step forward” in its ongoing efforts to tackle unsafe cladding.