Residents of two Manchester tower blocks may be forced to pay to replace deadly Grenfell-style cladding

Exclusive: Residents say they are in 'real immediate danger' while cladding remains on buildings

Residents of two apartment blocks in Manchester could have their rent increased to pay for the bill to replace Grenfell Tower-style cladding.

More than 300 people living in the two blocks in the city’s Green Quarter are “potentially in danger of losing their lives” while the cladding remains on the building, one resident warned.

They may be forced to pay upwards of £3m for the refurbishment, which could increase if insulation material inside the buildings is also found to be flammable.

Cladding on the apartments was found to be the same as that used on Grenfell Tower, which was described as being “more flammable than petrol” at the inquiry into the fire at Grenfell Tower, which killed 72 people.

Residents living in the towers feel as though they are in “real immediate danger”, Katie Kelly, who lives in one of the blocks, said.

“There’s nothing to say that a fire won’t break out in our blocks. The cladding is still on until spring next year,” she told The Independent.

She added: “If something did happen, you’re in a building that’s extra flammable that could go up within minutes.”

Residents of one of the blocks, which lacks smoke alarms and sprinklers, have also been issued a charge to cover the cost of a waking watch.

Last month, residents’ fears were stoked by a fire which broke out in a building next to the two apartment blocks.

Residents are concerned if the fire had broken out in their apartments it could result in another tragedy on the magnitude of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Work to remove and replace the cladding on one of the blocks is not scheduled to begin until next spring, even though a fire assessment of the buildings advised it be removed immediately.

“It seems crazy to me that businesses aren’t taking responsibility for this,” Ms Kelly said. “It’s going to take somebody losing their lives for these businesses to act.”

The residents living in Cypress Place and Vallea Court have been taken to a tribunal by Pemberstone, the investment firm and freeholder of the apartment blocks. The tribunal will rule on who is liable to pay for the refurbishment as per the lease.

They asked Pemberstone to approach LendLease, the original developer which chose the cladding for the tower, to pay the cost of the refurbishment.

The residents are expected to cover the cost of the tribunal and pay for legal representation for the freeholder and needed to crowdfund their own legal advice to respond to the tribunal.

Irene Wilcox, who owns a property within one of the towers which she rents out, said: ”If you have a car and it goes in for recall because they’ve done something wrong, you don’t pay for it.

“This isn’t maintenance, this isn’t renewal. They got it wrong. They put cheap stuff on it and they knew it was cheap stuff.”

Ms Kelly said the residents’ ordeal with the tribunal had been “frustrating and ridiculous.” She said: “They didn’t talk to us. They’ve cancelled all of our community meetings.

“There’s no way we’re going to win. There’s already been three cases that have all ruled in the favour of the freeholder.”

She added: “The whole thing is just a complete joke. I think the only reason they did it was so they could say to the media that this is a fair and arbitrary way to rule on who should be paying.

“It’s another case of big businesses trying to get out of doing the right thing.”

A spokesman for Pemberstone said: “We are in dialogue with Lendlease and our technical team has provided information for them to review. At this stage we are unable to offer any further comment.”

The spokesman said Pemberstone was not aware of the dangerous cladding when they purchased the towers. “Pemberstone was not involved in the design or development, nor in the sale of the apartments,” he said. “Pemberstone owns the landlord’s ‘reversionary’ interest, which was transferred to it after the properties had been fully constructed and all apartments sold.”

When asked if the company would cover the costs of replacement as a goodwill gesture to residents, the spokesman said: “Pemberstone’s landlord’s interest represents only a very small proportion of the overall value of the development and its apartments.

“Considerable resources have been devoted over the past 10 months to working with and managing the professional team appointed to identify and finalise an appropriate final solution which can then be implemented.”

A spokesman for Lendlease declined to comment and directed The Independent to Pemberstone.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, held a meeting with residents of the blocks last Thursday.

He said: “I completely sympathise with leaseholders living in private blocks who are facing hikes in service charges to pay for fire safety works, and that’s why I brought residents together.

“This meeting was an opportunity to listen to affected residents, who are rightly anxious and worried about the safety of their homes and how fire safety works will be funded.

“While we have taken swift action in Greater Manchester to reassure thousands of local residents living in high rise accommodation across the city-region, we cannot ignore lack of funding and resources from central government to address this issue of public safety.”

He added: “Ultimately, the responsibility for this national crisis lies with the Government. Both I and Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett have repeatedly called on minsters to step up and provide urgent funding for every block that needs cladding stripping.

“However, we have yet to receive an acceptable response from Government and I will continue to lobby ministers on behalf of residents until we get to a suitable resolution.”