“The mental stress of it is crazy because of money, and you feel trapped and in an unsafe building, it’s a horrible feeling,” says Steph Culpin, a leaseholder at Brislington’s Orchard House. “And to know that they are fully aware that it’s unsafe but have done nothing to rectify it.”

Steph has lived in the five-storey block of 54 flats on Stockwood Road since 2018. It is three years since serious fire safety defects were identified at the building, a former office block. 

Yet despite reforms prompted by the Grenfell Tower tragedy that were supposed to make other blocks safe and shield leaseholders from footing the bill, little has been done to fix them. 

Steph was one of two tenants who took the matter to court to secure a remediation order – a new legal avenue to force building owners to act. But with the deadline for the remediation work approaching, the freeholder who owns the building has all but disappeared, cutting contact with leaseholders, ignoring the local MP and even their own management company. 

The failure to replace potentially flammable panels on the outside of the building leaves residents worried about their safety. It also means they cannot sell or remortgage their flats, or pay off government-backed Help to Buy loans that are now racking up interest. 

The freeholder of Orchard House, Stockwood Land 2 Ltd, has until 12 June to complete a series of fire safety remediation works, which almost certainly won’t be done on time. The leaseholders of Orchard House have been let down by the freeholder’s refusal to act, but also by the complex web of new regulations designed to protect leaseholders and force building owners to make sure fire safety is up to scratch that aren’t working fast enough.

With less than a month before the deadline passes, Steph and other residents want to know: who will enforce the remediation order – and when will Orchard House finally be made safe?

‘The freeholders have abandoned us’

Despite all of Steph’s hard work to get fire safety surveys carried out and successfully apply for the remediation order at a property tribunal last year, she is still unable to sell her flat, and is now paying interest on a help to buy loan she can’t pay off. 

The dream of getting on the housing ladder has turned into a nightmare. “I’ve got a roof over my head, people out there are worse off,” says Steph. “But it doesn’t take the sting away.

“A year ago we didn’t want this to be public,” she adds. “But now we’ve got to the point where we’re going to make as much noise as it takes.”

But she is just one of dozens of leaseholders feeling the impact.

Hannah Clutterbuck bought her flat at Orchard House five years ago but living there has become unaffordable. “Our mortgage almost doubled in December,” she tells the Cable. “We would have sold, we only planned to live there for a few years.

“Me and my husband just moved back in with my parents and we are forced to become landlords, which we do not want, but we can’t afford to live there,” she says. “It’s our only choice.”

Charlie and his partner bought their flat around the same time, but now feel they can’t start raising a family due to lack of space. “We’re 30, we’re getting married this year and after that you think of children. But we’re in a one-bed, it’s tight for space with two people so we couldn’t possibly consider doing what we want to. That’s quite sad really.

“It’s sad to think that the freeholders have abandoned us, and two management companies seem to have abandoned us during the six years we’ve been here,” he said.

“It’s an absolute farce. Nothing is happening in the way it should… It’s about time they stepped up.”

One leaseholder who wanted to remain anonymous said: “It feels like we are trapped. We bought our flat to get onto the property ladder with the hope to sell before five years where the interest is free on help-to-buy loans. 

“Mortgage rates have increased, along with service charges – living here has become extremely expensive and we have no end in sight as to when we can sell and move on with our lives. I am currently seven months pregnant and extremely concerned for the safety of my family.”

Another leaseholder needed to move to a bigger property because she was pregnant, but three sales fell through due to the fire safety issues at Orchard House being unaddressed. Unsure what else to do, her parents bought the flat off her with cash so she could move out and find somewhere with the space she and her newborn needed. 

Years of inaction

The first leaseholders moved into their flats in 2018 after the building was converted from offices. After Grenfell, a certificate called an EWS1 form was introduced in 2019 to show that the external wall system of tower blocks had been assessed for fire safety. 

Although these forms are only meant to be required for buildings taller than 18m, lenders began demanding them for homes in much less tall blocks – making it difficult or impossible to get a mortgage for properties without one. The Cable has previously reported on people across Bristol caught up in difficulties around the EWS checks.

Leaseholders at Orchard House decided to push for the fire safety of the building to be assessed. A desktop EWS1 survey identified issues in 2021, but leaseholders wanted a more comprehensive, intrusive building survey to be carried out. 

We need legal assistance. We’ve done as much as we can. We’re not lawyers, we’re not property experts

At that time, leaseholders told the Cable that the previous management company of the building disappeared, which meant it had no managers for six months and delayed the process. Leaseholders had to pay for the desktop survey and intrusive survey depending on the size of the flat, on top of their normal monthly service charge. Steph says she paid £560.

The intrusive survey was finally done in May 2023, which confirmed the fire safety defects. A few months later in July, a meeting was held where Sara Didcott, a representative of the freeholder, told leaseholders that the owner would start gathering quotes for the remediation work. 

“And then there was complete radio silence from Sara Didcott and the freeholder,” Steph recalls. This is when she decided to apply for a remediation order to force the freeholder into action.

In November, the annual statement – a breakdown of what the service charge was going to be spent on and how much leaseholders would have to pay for the next six months – wasn’t sent to leaseholders by the management company, because the freeholder hadn’t signed it off. 

At the same time that the freeholder was even ignoring its own management company, a planning application was submitted to build an extension with seven new flats. Unsurprisingly, this outraged residents. Steph says: “They have enough money to build onto the building but they don’t have enough money to make the building safe.”

According to Land Registry documents, the freeholder is Stockwood Land 2 Ltd, which is run by Amarjit Litt, who along with his brothers has been fined in the past for breaching fire safety regulations and has been involved in a series of controversies around housing developments. But the planning application states the freeholder is Stockwood Land Ltd, whose director is Ranbir Litt. 

At the remediation order hearing in November 2023, the freeholder was listed as Stockwood Land 2 Ltd, but a representative of the company did not bother to turn up. The property tribunal issued the remediation order in December 2023, giving the freeholder six months to carry out a series of fire safety works.

When the annual statement was finally issued four months later in February, the management company confirmed it had did this without the approval of the freeholder – who had still not responded. 

Kerry McCarthy, MP for Bristol East, has publicly called out the freeholder after letters in January and March 2024 went ignored. She told the Cable: “It’s disappointing that a lack of cooperation from the freeholder, and a lack of legal avenues for leaseholders to enforce remedial works, have forced people to live in unsafe and unsatisfactory conditions.

“The leaseholders have done nothing wrong, and yet it’s proving near impossible to get the remediation works done. We expect better from the freeholder, and we need a better system in place to protect leaseholders in future.”

Avon Fire Service told the Cable it was not responsible for enforcing the remediation order. But officers did visit Orchard House and issued a notification of fire safety deficiencies in February. 

In a letter to residents in April, management company Eaves said they had since ordered fire door surveys and more signage and fire policy instructions to be installed. They also said they had not heard anything further from the freeholder but were “having conversations in the background with companies who may be able to assist us with ensuring the works are carried out”, as well as working out how much it would cost.

In a further update in May, Eaves told a leaseholder that they had still not had any contact with the freeholder, but were in the process of submitting an application to the government’s Cladding Safety Scheme, which could unlock funding for the remediation work and refund leaseholders for the surveys they’ve already paid for.

Finally, after after the Cable contacted both Eaves and the freeholder for comment for this article, we understand the freeholder has since got back in touch with the building managers.

Limited reforms after Grenfell

Since being introduced as part of the Building Safety Act 2022, only a handful of remediation orders across the country have been brought against freeholders and developers. According to government data from February, more than half of the 4,100 buildings taller than 11m identified as having unsafe cladding are still waiting for remediation work to begin.

Giles Grover from campaign group End our Cladding Scandal told the Cable: “Rather than a simple piece of legislation to say all leaseholders are protected, the government has come up with this massively complicated law that protects some and not others.

“It’s kind of pot luck, if you’re in a building slightly under 11m you’re ruled out, if you’re in a building with a developer that hasn’t signed up to government agreement, then you still have to pay for non-cladding costs. It’s all a mess really. 

“The difficulty with remediation orders is that they are beset with issues in terms of the costs involved, the time and actually getting the work done,” he added. “Even if you get a successful judgment, it still doesn’t guarantee that the work will be done.

“This whole system still relies on leaseholders having to pay. And that is what has caused the delays in making buildings safe. Seven years after Grenfell and we’re still looking for years if not decades for all buildings to have a funding solution for all defects. 

There are further reforms currently going through parliament at the moment in the form of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill. The new law is expected to abolish leaseholds on new homes but not flats, make it easier to extend your lease and limit the amount of ground rent leaseholders have to pay. 

“Ultimately it still feels like it’s tinkering around the edges and wont deliver the comprehensive solution we need,” Grover said. “We’ll probably need a change of government to actually have meaningful change.” 

Commenting on Orchard House, Grover said: “It’s not surprising that this freeholder has not done what was set out in the remediation order, because we’ve seen it with other buildings… The issue is how will it all get enforced and who will do that.”

According to government guidance, remediation orders are enforceable in county courts. But how long this will take to secure progress for the leaseholders of Orchard House remains unclear. 

Bristol City Council told the Cable: “We can confirm that we had no role in the application or receipt of this remedial order and therefore have no enforcement role.”

Stockwood Land 2 Ltd and Eaves Property Management were approached for comment. 

Steph has already given up lots of her time trying to get results for her and her neighbours. “There must be some compensation for people who have had to move out because they can’t afford the mortgage, that are paying interest on help to buy loans, who have lost money through sales falling through, all through no fault of anyone.” 

“We need legal assistance. We’ve done as much as we can. We’re not lawyers, we’re not property experts.”

We would like to cover the wider issue of leasehold in Bristol. If you have been affected by this issue, you can contact us in strict confidence: matty@thebristolcable.org