New “luxury” flats require extensive repairs before they can be let out to people on the housing waiting list.
Brighton and Hove City Council bought the Kubic Apartments, in Whitehawk Road, last year for a seven-figure sum after the building was valued at £8.9 million in 2022.
Despite the council’s hope of letting homes there in the spring, work is still under way to fix a leak and make improvements to bring the building up to the council’s standards
Residents’ representative Christine El-Shabba, who co-chairs the council’s east area housing management panel, said: “It seems bad … The council have bought them but you’ve had to go in and do quite a bit of work to them to make them safe.”
Her comments came as housing management panel members discussed freeing up more homes for people on the council’s waiting list.
The council’s interim corporate director for housing, Martin Reid, told the panel of residents, leaseholders, councillors and officials that helping older people to downsize would free up more family homes which were desperately needed.
He said: “When we build our own homes, we build to a certain specification and that allows us to manage them for 60 years.
“We purchased them as a good opportunity to deliver 38 homes at social rents because we have a grant to support that.
“What we have had to do is look at adjustments to the homes and a leak in the property we’ve had to rectify. We’ve had to factor in bringing a home up to the standard we would like.”
Mr Reid said that council and housing association homes were built to a “more resilient” standard than homes on the private market – not least because the council would have to manage them.
Labour councillor Gill Williams, the cabinet member for housing and new homes, said: “They were advertised as luxury homes so people need to be aware of that.”
Improvement works were “factored in” to the sale but the council said that there was no fixed repairs budget to deal with snags in the first year of occupation.
A nearby scheme, Kite Place, on the corner of Whitehawk Road and Findon Road, required repairs and maintenance costing £31,000 in its first year.
Three years after the first tenants moved in, residents complained of poor water pressure, sagging floors and high temperatures.
The council said: “We purchased the Kubic building using HRA (Housing Revenue Account) funding specifically meant for buying properties that we can use to provide much-needed additional council homes.
“As a council we must ensure our properties are in optimal condition and compliant with all regulatory requirements so funding was also set aside to adapt the building to meet these necessary requirements and the developers also made a contribution towards this work.
“We had originally hoped to move residents in during the spring but this date had to be put back after a substantial leak meant a delay for drying out and for some redecoration.
“We are committed to ensuring all our residents have safe and secure homes and we are looking forward to seeing the first of our first residents setting up home in the Kubic building soon.”
Confused by this article. Do the properties require repairs, are they fixing snags or are the council making adjustments as want them a certain way?
I get the leak is an issue but the rest of it seems like the council is wasting money.
Why are they spending 31k on repairs on buildings in the first year? Shouldn’t the builder do this?
Local Authorities are held to different standards compared to private landlords.
They are but this is clearly more than just standards if it takes 8 months to complete the works. The regulations aren’t massively different. This feels more changing the building because it isn’t what staff are used to dealing with which is different and wasteful.
There was a leak.
A leak that takes 8 months to sort? Usually agree with your view but think you’re on thin ground with this. Even then they were only due to move in the spring. 6/7 months later
Oh no, the leak added a month or two to the schedule. When they talk about resilience, it’s work that allows the council to not have to repair them as often, which…maybe should be standard, apparently is not when it comes to private properties.
I think the stitch in time reasoning is a good one, although, I would like to see these being used as soon as possible, and maybe a reflective piece to learn on purchases of this type in the future, to streamline and be more effective in the future?
Did they employ a surveyor before they made the purchase?
The council have probably been in bed with the developers just like they were with westridge who ran numerous projects in East and West sussex at a loss everything but still kept managing to get the contracts,you scratch my back and so on.
Westridge did build them
You have to wonder how building control signed off the building if it wasn’t up to standard. The council wants a higher standard than luxury private (!!!) but there are building controls to make sure that private buyers are not ripped off. Why hasn’t this worked?
There are no details on the work listed. I guess it’s things like replacing taps to more robust ones and so on. But if that’s the case, why waste doing now? Why not do it as part of maintenance when they fail in a few years? The builders would have given a guarantee to new buyers if it had been sold that way – so the items can’t be that bad.
We have a housing crisis and this is taking months to get ready. The councillors need to push and get things moving….. Buying a property last year and having it stand empty for months is not a sign of a functioning council! Even if repairs are needed, should only take a day or two per flat. So why not do this, move people in flat by flat. Could start giving much needed homes in days not months (or years by the way this is going)
I think you’re underestimating how long certain tasks take.
This doesn’t seem to add up. You buy luxury flats then have to spend a shed load of cash turning them into council flats. Really!!
I wouldn’t have called them luxury flats in the first place, but that’s why the council had the opportunity to purchase them. Luxury houses in Whitehawk is a weird combination, however you spin it.
Not to council standards, so are they going to break a few windows. Smash some holes in the walls. Break the intercom system and spray the flats with black mould.
Not to mention, they’ll get someone in called Barry, who’ll have visitors in all night making purchases of a herbal kind, own several illegal breeds of dogs, and have the vocabulary competence of a Northern sailor who’s just been given pink eye!
I bid on these and was wondering why bid was showing “under consideration” since November. They say don’t buy a new build (people working in construction told me that) I guess this is why
So did the council fail in it’s duty to the taxpayers, in its professional competency and it’s fiscal responsibilities by not assessing the properties condition, financial exposure for works & competent schedule of works including reviewed reports on time to assign housing stock to residents – in which case let’s start looking at who needs to lose their jobs.
Or did they make a 7 figure purchase using taxpayers money and government grants/loans to a developer whilst knowing their were existing issues & not securing contractual and legal commitments to ensure the property was handed over in habitable condition and the developer was bound over to their ‘new home’ legal obligations on corrective works for the full time period as laid out instead of exposing the taxpayer to financial risk in exchange for a “contribution”.
Which ever it is. It’s a 7 figure incompetence, financial mismanagement and/ or administrative malfeasance which needs to be investigated, action taken & the taxpayers provided with an un redacted and independent report.
Or they made a purchase in the knowledge that it would likely need more work done to it to get it up to the standard that local authority has to, a higher standard than private ownership, but deciding it was the responsible thing to do to ease the housing shortage in Brighton, as clearly defined in their new housing strategy.
Depends on which way you want to butter your bread methinks, Clayton!
Benjamin, it was purchased knowing there were a few finishing touches to complete and a few other bits. I think its the lack of detail really, council need to be a lot more transparent on costs. One person I know who was offered one of these was hastily moved out of their previous home, due to the council doing intensive surveys, and they have been in an airbnb since, costing £140 per night. Waiting patiently to occupy the homes they were accepted for.
Communication from the council is always something they can work on, I quite agree!
I think you will find its an 8 figure £10,000,000 plus was reported to have been paid. Surely its in the public interest now its gone awry to be transparent on what it was purchased for, how much the new works cost, and projected costs for the first 5 years…
Show how poorly built these flats were. There should be minimum standards for all new builds.
Well said Chris The council should ask those who kids have left home to move into small properties to free up family homes
I agree. The council announced this exact building would be used for such a scheme as a pilot. It’s on public record. That never happened, as my clients (who have been accepted) are not downsizing.
People need to be in the right homes suitable for them, not take away perfectly good family homes from local families in need. Seeing a lot of families stuck in just one room. Costing the council lots to fund also, as they have a statutory obligation.
Maybe the council could bring in a new local bedroom tax for working households who are council tenants under-occupying, as a deterrent…
It’s a fine line though as some really have fond memories and not forgetting a lot of them will be grandparents now and have the grandkids a lot so parents can work.
Housing stock is always going to be a challenge. Although, I’m hopeful with the new elected government, and we have a Cabinet Member who is really focused on building more stock, that overall this challenge can start having a dent being made into it.
A leak that takes 8 months to sort? Usually agree with your view but think you’re on thin ground with this. Even then they were only due to move in the spring. 6/7 months later