You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Notting Hill Genesis seeks to offload temporary accommodation near Grenfell
Large housing association Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) is looking to offload the temporary accommodation it manages near Grenfell Tower, Inside Housing has learned.
NHG currently manages 48 homes on the Lancaster West Estate, which neighbours Grenfell Tower, the site of a deadly fire that killed 72 people in 2017.
The housing association aims to hand over the management of all of these homes to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC). It owns 11 of them, which it intends to sell to the council.
Earlier this month, Kim Taylor-Smith, deputy leader of the RBKC, met David Bingham, head of operations for temporary housing at NHG, MP for Kensington Emma Dent Coad and residents to discuss the future of the homes.
Ms Dent Coad told Inside Housing that RBKC wanted to take over the homes because of poor management by NHG, with many of the properties left “in a state of severe disrepair” and some residents living in “absolutely appalling” conditions.
Ms Dent Coad said: “When I met some of the tenants a couple of weeks back, I realised quite how bad it was. There were people who had been left without the most basic of repairs, like heating, hot water and lighting for months on end.”
READ MORE
A spokesperson for NHG confirmed that RBKC had asked the 64,000-home social landlord to hand over management of the temporary housing but said that it was because “they believed a unified management approach for the whole estate would be beneficial”.
There are 795 homes in total on the Lancaster West Estate, most of which are council homes already managed by RBKC’s management arm, set up to replace the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation.
NHG said that while they acknowledged that there had been complaints, it “maintained high standards for our temporary housing residents and did not believe any of our homes are in disrepair.” It added that hot water was the responsibility of the council.
Nevertheless, the association did admit that in some cases RBKC had to step in to carry out repairs on the NHG properties.
A number of the other homes, according to Ms Dent Coad, are owned by former council residents who exercised the Right to Buy and then leased them to NHG to use as temporary accommodation.
Mr Taylor-Smith told Inside Housing: “Notting Hill Genesis manages 48 flats and has agreed we can manage those owned by leaseholders if they agree, while further discussions carry on regarding those it owns.
“This is the result of requests from the residents and the Lancaster West Residents’ Association, and will ensure all homes being managed to the same standards. It is encouraging that our work on the estate has been recognised by residents who want us to manage their properties, rather than other landlords.”
The NHG spokesperson said: “We have begun discussions with all our landlords on the estate to end their leases early and transfer the homes to RBKC. However, this will be a matter for individual landlords to consider.”
