Residents Face £3.6m Bill for Unsafe Kirkby Flats

Published: 27 November 2025 Thursday. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online.

Residents who were made homeless due to serious fire safety problems in their buildings have now been handed bills totaling £3.6 million to fix and maintain them. The owners of flats at Beech Rise and Willow Rise in Kirkby, Merseyside, were forced to evacuate in July after the buildings were deemed unsafe.

Each of the 160 flat owners now faces costs of around £10,000, covering service charges and repairs, despite being unable to live in the properties. Many residents have expressed frustration, feeling “trapped” by leases that make them responsible for virtually all building issues.

The former council blocks were refurbished into “luxury” apartments in 2006 by developer LPC Living, with flats sold for up to £100,000 each. Over the following 14 years, flat owners spent hundreds of thousands of pounds trying to address problems with damp, mould, faulty electrics, water damage, and broken lifts. One resident said a tenant with serious health issues had to sleep in his car because he could not navigate the stairs.

Dave Hemmings, 72, moved into a rented flat in August after having to leave his home when fire safety authorities shut the building down. He said a leak had left him without heating or water for several months. “I can’t pay. I haven’t got it. I put my pension pot into buying the flat. I haven’t got that sort of money,” he said.

Michael Jones, who purchased his flat for £95,000 in 2007, highlighted how leases tie owners into paying for all repairs and maintenance, including communal areas, structural walls, ceilings, floors, and lifts. “The companies that have come in above us to become our landlords don’t seem to be responsible for paying for anything, according to these leases,” he said.

Mr. Jones added: “We’ve paid through the nose repeatedly for works that now need doing again, but it feels like no-one else has to do anything other than making money out of us. We feel like they want us out, and these bills are just an attempt to get us to hand back the keys. We should not be asked to pick up the tab for years of mismanagement and neglect.”

He criticised the leases as being designed not for residents but for “the multi-millionaires who are in charge of the properties.” Many residents now fear being financially crippled while unable to return to their homes, adding to the sense of injustice and frustration.

The building’s landlord said the residents’ management company, on which some leaseholders had sat, had “amassed significant debts” and that legal action was under consideration. Residents, however, argue that the repeated failures to maintain basic safety standards should not leave them financially responsible.

The situation highlights ongoing challenges in the UK housing sector, where leasehold arrangements often place undue burdens on residents while leaving developers and landlords with limited accountability. As residents of Beech Rise and Willow Rise face these unexpected bills, public attention is focused on how lease agreements are structured and whether reforms are needed to protect homeowners from unfair financial obligations.