Council bought unsafe homes for Grenfell survivors

A London council is trying to sell 14 properties it bought to house the survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy that are in such a poor state that they cannot be rented out.

Kensington and Chelsea Council said it knowingly took some risks purchasing the properties “in the necessary interest of speed”, a council report shows.

The authority had to find homes for hundreds of residents displaced by the fire in Grenfell Tower in June 2017, in which 72 people died and more than 70 were injured. In all, they bought a total of 290 properties.

Survivors group Grenfell Next of Kin said the admission was just one example of “epic failures in the aftermath of a disaster”.

A council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Purchasing 290 homes in 2017 was an unprecedented challenge, and the council knowingly took some risks to complete sales quickly.”

The authority said it soon became evident some of the properties were unsuitable and would prove difficult to bring up to the high safety standards required for social housing.

They added the purchases would not have been made had more detailed information been available and had the “necessity of the circumstances” been different.

“This included conducting only limited surveys and purchasing privately owned properties that we assumed could be made suitable for social housing,” they said.

“It is inevitable that quality will vary when purchasing this many properties at speed, especially as many had been in private ownership.”

The council wants to sell 14 homes it purchased because they are in such a poor state that they cannot be brought up to standard, which has raised questions about council processes and a waste of taxpayer money.

Emma O’Connor, who escaped in a lift from the 20th floor with her partner, accused the council of failing to learn from its mistakes.

She said: “They don’t investigate before they do something. Rush is the biggest red flag. You cannot rush fire safety.

“People’s lives mean more than money. If it takes a long time [to find a suitable property], so be it. It’s a human right to live somewhere safe.”

Survivors group Grenfell Next of Kin said the admission was “the tip of the iceberg”.

They said: “The decision made by the Tory government in the immediate aftermath of the fire to leave the same negligent Tory council in charge of the aftermath with a blank cheque, without any oversight or scrutiny, was a grave misstep, harmful for the victims and irresponsible.”

Kensington and Chelsea Council said residents were moved on once issues were raised with the properties it purchased after the tragedy.

Some of the properties were never occupied due to safety issues such as unusual layouts or fire escape problems.

The council said it would reinvest the proceeds from the sales back into social housing in the borough.

In February, the government said the 24-storey Grenfell Tower would be gradually dismantled.

A spokesperson said the process was expected to take around two years and it would be done “sensitively”, with no changes to the building before the eighth anniversary of the disaster in June.