Insurance and pensions giant Legal and General has admitted that there are serious problems with damp and mould, leaking roofs and sewage issues in The Fold, the 35-storey residential tower close to the Croydon Flyover, built on council-owned land, where tenants can pay up to £3,000 per month in rent.
High maintenance: The Fold is the tallest block in the Queen’s Quarter, completed with a £100m subsidy from London Mayor Sadiq Khan
The building owners say that they have even discussed compensation to some tenants who have endured the dire conditions.
Inside Croydon reported last month how housing campaigner, Kwajo Tweneboa, exposed the horrendous conditions in two of the apartments in the block, posting a shocking video on his social media feed.
The Fold was completed just three years ago, part of a development that extends over Queen’s Gardens and built using £100million-worth of subsidies from the Mayor of London.
Four residential blocks were built on the site of Taberner House, the former council offices, and part of the once-public park. Two blocks were built for L&Q, the housing association, for shared ownership and London Living Rent. A third block – Malcolm Wicks House – provided 90 flats for council homes for Croydon.
The final block, given the supposedly “edgy” name of The Fold, is made up of 251 flats all rented out and is owned by insurance and pensions giant Legal and General.
Tweneboa, the author of Our Country in Crisis: Britain’s Housing Emergency and How We Rebuild, claimed in his video report that the deteriorating conditions, leaks and mould had all been reported to the building’s management company, and ignored.
In his video, Tweneboa said: “Residents moved into this Croydon block in 2022. This is the state of it now… They said complaints haven’t been taken seriously, disrepair hasn’t been dealt with and some residents have said they’ve found it so bad, they’re moving out.”
Legal and General has claimed that they have responded to tenants’ complaints “within a 24-hour period”, in “nearly all cases”, suggesting that the problems with the new building may well be more widespread.
Following the video reports, a spokesperson for Legal and General said: “Following the main contractor going out of business earlier this year, we can confirm that build quality issues have been identified at The Fold, Croydon.
“As owner of the property, we are deeply concerned that our residents have been affected by these issues. We have intervened, alongside the managing agents, and are taking every action possible to ensure they are resolved quickly and any inconvenience caused is minimised.
Ceiling crisis: Tweneboa’s video showed two flats where ceilings have collapsed because of leaks
“We have ensured residents are offered clean, comfortable and secure living environments while addressing these issues, and are working closely with the developer, insurers and specialist contractors to resolve the root cause.
“Initial surveys and mitigation work have already taken place, L&G said, promising that “further extensive work” would be undertaken this month.
“In nearly all cases, within a 24-hour period, we have provided alternative clean, comfortable and secure accommodation within the building for affected residents to relocate to.
“In addition to relocation, we are consulting with impacted residents to discuss compensation.
“We will continue to ascertain long-term solutions as an urgent priority, and continue to engage closely with residents on the process and our progress.”
Read more: Solution to housing crisis is clear – but who will implement it?
Read more: Croydon shamed over ‘dangerous squalor’ in council flats
Read more: Ombudsman demands culture change after council flats ‘shock’
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Who can remember the swanky showrooms on the High Street promoting these developments as stunning and high quality living during the developer worship era of Negrini and Newman. As usual with the provision of dense property development to make a short term profit without much care and attention about the underlying quality of the properties and the use they will be put to, it can only end up with such low grade and unsatisfactory homes. I feel sorry for the people who have to live with the bodges that will now be enacted to try and solve the severe issues that have been designed and constructed into this inappropriate development.