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Council housing boss requested tenancy status check on Grenfell resident after they raised concerns
The former head of housing at the council that owned Grenfell Tower requested checks on the tenancy status of one of its residents after he raised complained about services, the inquiry heard today.
Evidence published as part of the Grenfell Inquiry today revealed that Laura Johnson asked staff at management company Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) to do a “bit of checking” around the tenancy background of Grenfell resident Ed Daffarn, after he raised concerns about services and the construction of a school outside the tower.
An email sent by Robert Black, the chief executive of KCTMO in October 2011, said that he had been made aware of Mr Daffarn’s concerns by Ms Johnson and that she wanted checks on his tenancy status carried out.
Mr Daffarn had said that resident groups wanted a meeting with the council to discuss housing issues at Grenfell, as well as what he called the “imposition on the estate of the Kensington Academy”.
In an email sent by Mr Black a week after Mr Daffarn’s note, he wrote: “Laura raised this at my meeting yesterday. The email below is from Edward Daffarn who is angry about two things – the new academy and services on his estate.
“Could we do just a bit of checking on his tenancy background, he inherited it she thinks but unclear of circumstances.”
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Mr Daffarn was part of Grenfell Action Group, which repeatedly raised concerns about fire safety and the conduct of the council and KCTMO towards residents.
He famously predicted in the blog he wrote with neighbour Francis O’Connor that only “a serious loss of life” would shine a light on the “malign governance of the KCTMO”.
Mr Daffarn has also previously said that he felt “stigmatised as a troublemaker” for raising complaints with the council and KCTMO.
Asked today why she had requested the checks, Ms Johnson said: “It was because there was a number of people that attended the meeting and I wanted to understand whether they were leaseholders or tenants… it also provided us with the opportunity of who was coming along and what their status was.”
She also explained that by taking this sort of action the council was able to discover that one leaseholder, who regularly attended meetings, was in fact illegally sub-letting their property.
Ms Johnson joined RBKC as head of housing in 2009 and held this role throughout the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower, as well as the Kensington Academy and Leisure Centre (KALC) scheme, which saw a new school and leisure centre built next to the tower.
Ms Johnson was the senior responsible officer for the KALC project and was a leading figure in securing Studio E as the architect for the scheme.
The evidence today highlighted how there was increasing pressure on KCTMO, which was responsible for the procurement of the Grenfell refurbishment, to retain Studio E to achieve what Mr Johnson described as “economies of scale”. It has now emerged that Studio E had no previous experience of cladding a high-rise building.
Ms Johnson admitted that at no point had she asked about Studio E’s previous experience working on cladding projects.
When asked by Richard Millett, lead counsel to the inquiry, why she had not asked, Ms Johnson said that she could not account for it, and that reflecting on it now, it was something that should have been “completely obvious” to ask for.
When Mr Millett put it to her that she “didn’t ask the obvious questions because you were more concerned with money”, Ms Johnson said that the assertion was “unfair”.
She added: “I didn’t ask the obvious question because I would have assumed that a company like Studio E could have brought in the requisite expertise from another practice or subbed it in order to have the skills to do this project.”
Residents, including Mr Daffarn, raised concerns about KCTMO’s decision to appoint Studio E.
In one letter from Grenfell Tower Leaseholders’ Association, the group said that there was clearly a lack of communication between KCTMO and residents after it failed to alert them that Studio E had been given the contract.
The afternoon session focused largely on the historic performance of KCTMO in the years leading up to the Grenfell Tower fire, and revealed that the organisation had been served with a notice by the council in 2009 formally notifying it of concerns about its performance, and requiring the imposition of an improvement plan.
Ms Johnson, who joined the council earlier that year and was asked to carry out a report looking into the performance of KCTMO, said that she had identified poor governance structures in the organisation, as well as board members not working in the interest of the organisation and a “fractious and disorganised” executive team.
The breach notice resulted in a number of people at management level leaving the organisation and Mr Black being brought in as chief executive.
Ms Johnson left her role in September 2017, three months after the fire.
The inquiry continues with further evidence from Ms Johnson tomorrow.
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