'Trapped in a home I can't sell': Bristol resident's plea as cladding causes fire hazard

  • Lucy Tissington says she feels trapped in a home she can't sell, as Richard Payne reports

A woman says she is suffering from anxiety after being told the Bristol flat she lives in is a fire hazard.

Lucy Tissington, 34, says she is unable to sell the two-bed property because an inspection of the building revealed it has unsafe cladding.

Lucy said: "I want to move on with my life and I just can't do that however hard I try to get answers.

"It's extremely stressful. It's this cloud that's been over me for a very long time and I just want to get it fixed."

Lucy is one of thousands of residents who say the new government must step in to help those living in homes deemed unsafe following the Grenfell tower fire in 2017 when 72 people lost their lives.

"If a fire starts on the other side of the building, then I'm told my home is in trouble. Every day I'm told I'm living in a building that's high risk."

Lucy bought her two-bed flat with the former government's Help to Buy scheme. Now she's paying back £100 a month in interest on the loan for a property she can't sell because no mortgage company will lend against it.

"The government encouraged me to get on the property ladder and actually helped me to do so," she said. "Now it's turning its back on me and many in the same position."

Clayewater Court was built in 2016 and is made up of 20 one and two-bed flats Credit: ITV News

Lucy's block of 20 flats is under 11 metres tall, below the height deemed a risk to life. But the recent devastating fire in a block in Dagenham, East London shows, says Lucy, that all blocks with safety issues need the same protection.

The developers of the Bristol block, Clayewater Homes, said it appreciated the stress for leaseholders but it had no legal or contractual responsibility for any further works given it met building regulations when the property was completed in 2016.

“We built and then sold Clayewater Court in 2016/17, meeting the requirements of all relevant building regulations in force at the time," it added.

A spokesperson for HomeGround, the company representing the freeholder of the building, said: “Following the discovery of remediation requirements at Clayewater Court, we’ve been engaging with government and the original developer responsible for the fire defects to progress remediation as quickly as possible.

“We sympathise with leaseholders who continue to face difficulties and HomeGround is staying in close contact with the managing agent of the building to find a solution.”