Hackney<\/a>, had failed to pay more than \u00a3850,000 in Section 106 contributions (payments agreed between developers and local authorities to mitigate the impact of new developments) and community infrastructure levies. This unpaid debt meant that, if Restoration Hackney went bankrupt, leaseholders in the block would be responsible for the bill.<\/p>\nRich Bell and his wife, Anna, are stuck in their one-bed flat owing to Restoration Hackney\u2019s unpaid debt. Photograph: Teri Pengilley\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Bell said his lawyers were \u201cconvinced for a long time that it was just an administrative error\u201d but it soon \u201cbecame clear that it wasn\u2019t an error and this was the reality\u201d. At that point, the buyer of Bell\u2019s flat was advised by his solicitors that he would not be able to get a mortgage on the property because of the risk of being liable for the debt. \u201cUnderstandably, he had to pull out,\u201d said Bell.<\/p>\n
Other leaseholders in the block have also been unable to sell their homes because mortgage providers are unwilling to lend on any flat in the building. Bell said his neighbours, including families, have been \u201ceffectively trapped in unsellable homes\u201d by the council\u2019s inaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in this position where we\u2019re trapped in the building as a result of the actions of a developer, but the situation is being compounded by the inaction of the council,\u201d said Bell.<\/p>\n
The building at 43 Upper Clapton Road was completed in 2018. Photograph: Teri Pengilley\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
The debt has been owed since June 2017 after the 14th flat in the building was sold, before the block was completed the following year, according to the terms of an agreement between Hackney council and Restoration Hackney. The council issued a debt collection notice in October 2018 but took no action for nearly another six years, waiting until February 2024 to issue another notice. The bill remains unpaid. \u201cThe council has declined to explain why it has failed to collect this debt,\u201d said Bell.<\/p>\n
Leaseholders in the block have appealed to Hackney council to issue a guarantee that they will not pursue them for the freeholder\u2019s debt, which would allow them to sell their flats. The council has so far refused to provide such a guarantee. It has also refused to meet affected leaseholders. \u201cWe\u2019re appealing to the council for help on a human level and they\u2019re refusing to help us,\u201d said Bell.<\/p>\n
Bell remains stuck in the one-bedroom flat with his wife and two-year-old son. \u201cWe feel that we need more space. We\u2019re still sharing a bedroom with him but we would really like to be able to give him one of his own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The situation is having an impact on Bell\u2019s family. \u201cWe would quite like to have a second child but we can\u2019t have two kids in a one-bedroom flat. That\u2019s just not going to work. It\u2019s taking quite a big toll on our family life and our ability to make the choices we want to make in our own lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI find it just quite maddening that the actions of this developer and the council mean that I can\u2019t give my kid a bedroom. It\u2019s just quite maddening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell says the situation has taken \u2018a big toll\u2019 on his family\u2019s wellbeing. Photograph: Teri Pengilley\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Bell said the saga \u201cshines a light on the extent to which the leasehold system can trap people in really strange ways. Who expects that you buy a flat and then find that it\u2019s going to be completely unsellable for reasons beyond your control?\u201d<\/p>\n
A Hackney council spokesperson said: \u201cWe understand the frustration of leaseholders facing difficulty selling their properties as a result of the previous and current freeholder not paying substantial contributions due to the council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an obligation to make sure all developers that build in the borough pay to help maintain the services and the infrastructure relied upon by residents. There has been a change of freeholder of the block and neither the previous, nor the current owner has yet paid the amount that is due, despite us contacting and meeting with both.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will support residents however we can. Unfortunately, we are unable to guarantee the debts of a private developer as it could set a precedent for other developers to avoid paying debts in the future. We are exploring further legal options to make sure the outstanding payments are made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Restoration Hackney did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leaseholders in east London have said they are \u201ctrapped in unsellable homes\u201d because of an \u00a3850,000 debt owed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-508591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}