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Grenfell family face removal from home. RBKC deny this. Then POLICE knocked on the door.

90 replies

HelenaDove · 15/04/2019 16:48

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47898652

Grenfell family 'face removal from home'

A family who survived the Grenfell Tower fire has said they are set to be moved out of their temporary home, as the council will no longer pay for it.

Mahad Egal and Jamie Murray and their two young children want to stay in the property, but Kensington and Chelsea Council has said it is "no longer suitable" and will not renew it.

It has offered the family alternative temporary housing instead.

The council says that it has not threatened anyone with eviction.

The couple has previously been offered a permanent home, but declined it over fears about the use of aluminium, although the council said that all its homes for survivors were safe

The couple and their two children, aged three and five, escaped from the fourth floor of Grenfell Tower during the fire in June 2017, in which 72 people died.

They moved into a permanent home last month, but within three weeks had returned to their temporary accommodation - which they first entered in August 2017.

Ms Murray told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that the permanent home had been connected to a building with aluminium decorative casing around the windows.

They could see this through the living room window and it made them feel unsafe following their experiences of the fire.

The council said the material was not flammable and was "one of the safest forms of rain-screening building material available in the industry".

But Ms Murray said: "We were given similar reassurances when we lived in Grenfell Tower.

"[The council] are talking about physical safety, [but] you telling me that I am safe does not make me feel safe.

Ms Murray added that the stress of their present situation had caused her to experience vomit-inducing anxiety and made her flashbacks worse.

In the last two weeks she said she has also suffered a miscarriage.

The family added that moving from one property to another with two children would be "stressful and unnecessary" and Mr Egal was reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

They said the next time they move, they want it to be their permanent "forever" home.
'No culture change'

The couple said they were now effectively being evicted from their current temporary accommodation.

In a legal letter seen by the Victoria Derbyshire programme, Kensington and Chelsea Council state that it was "no longer suitable".

The family now say they fear leaving the home in case they are not allowed back in.

Mr Egal told the BBC that "every day from now on is a potential eviction day" and he feared the effect it would have on their children.

He added that the council has paid the rent for last week and the weekend just gone, but that is it.

Local Labour MP Emma Dent Coad said the council saw some Grenfell survivors as "troublesome" and wanted to "clear the decks" before the second anniversary of the tragedy on 14 June.

She said there was "no culture change" at the council, and she could see no justification "at all" for wanting to move the family from their temporary accommodation.

Kensington and Chelsea Council said in a statement: "We have worked with more than 180 households from Grenfell Tower to find them a suitable, permanent home.

"A small number of families find they have trouble settling into their new property and if they wish to move, we will find them suitable temporary housing while they consider what they want for the long term.

"All our homes for Grenfell [survivors] are safe and secure.

"We have not threatened any Grenfell survivor with eviction from their property."

In the week of the fire i remember a survivor telling Alok Sharma that he wasnt prepared to keep moving his young daughter from here to here to here to here. They KNEW that it was going to be like this, And they have been proved right.

twitter.com/vicderbyshire/status/1117761835623747586

Victoria Derbyshire
‏Verified account @vicderbyshire
4h4 hours ago

Exclusive: a Grenfell family says they’re facing eviction from their temporary home. *@RBKC say they aren’t evicting any Grenfell survivors. Yet a legal letter I’ve seen from ⁦**@RBKC*⁩ says Mahad Egal’s temp home is ‘no longer suitable’. Then police knocked on his door.

In the twitter link there is a recording of the police visit.

OP posts:
pinegreen · 16/04/2019 18:24

But there genuinely aren’t any detached houses in RBKC, unless you happen to be the Beckhams and have a spare £17m.

I am struggling to sympathise with them, to be honest.

pinegreen · 16/04/2019 18:25

Not that I think Grenfell is an absolutely outrageously neglectful tragedy - but you can’t keep turning down permanent accommodation in a borough with little.

CrotchetyQuaver · 16/04/2019 18:40

I feel so sorry for them and what they've gone through, but I don't quite know what they're holding out for? Council housing is a scarce resource anywhere and especially so in a central London setting. I'm surprised that they were able to move back the temporary accommodation. I would also wonder like a PP if it's not a nicer property than their new permanent one they aren't happy with. I'm baffled by their reason for not being happy there, that needs a bit more explanation.

HelenaDove · 17/04/2019 02:00

"Mahad Egal, Jamie Murray & their 2 kids lived in #GrenfellTower for 5 mths. After Mahad’s biochemistry degree, they began a business & just got 9 new clients. Landlord failures took their home & business."

OP posts:
Borntobedifferent · 17/04/2019 02:07

I'm sorry but I imagine they are being adviced badly and are now wanting something they are simply not going to get in London.

OP posts:
pinegreen · 17/04/2019 16:33

There is more to this story than the Victoria Derbyshire reports. It’s not the first time he’s rejected accommodation. They refused their temporary accommodation because it had a gas cooker. They refused other permanent accommodation because it was in a tower. He is now refusing a second permanent offer of accommodation due to aluminium window flashing on the adjacent property.

The vast majority of us in London in Zone 1-2 live in flats or terraced housing.

I have huge sympathy for everyone rebuilding their lives and believe that RBKC should be doing everything in their power to get people into safe, appropriate accommodation, but getting a detached home built to your precise specification in RBKC is something most people can only dream of.

SouthWestmom · 17/04/2019 22:08

I can't find much in this. The council have let them stay in the temp accommodation apparently and they are now on the general council list.
In 2018 he said they had turned down 7 properties for being substandard (flooded, mouse droppings, sewage) which clearly sounds grim. Prior to that they'd turned down one in a tower block.

I don't know what to think . Would they not get HB if they rented privately and could find something they felt happy with? I don't like private LL but it might be a better solution?

Borntobedifferent · 17/04/2019 22:17

Apparently he works in PR. I think he actually finding a solution isn't what he really wants

SouthWestmom · 17/04/2019 22:42

Trouble is you just read what's out there. I found a right load of weird stuff (previous post) and then started thinking hmm and not in a good way. Bit ashamed of myself for being cynical.

SouthWestmom · 17/04/2019 23:11

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/fionarutherford/grenfell-survivors-say-theyre-being-denied-access-to

What's happened to all this cash? £10k was raised via JustGiving for Mahad himself but how is it possible this huge sum was raised and people are still living in temp accommodation?

HelenaDove · 18/04/2019 00:15

@mathanxiety

OP posts:
HelenaDove · 18/04/2019 00:26

"202 = #GrenfellTower (survivors) AND Walk (not survivors). 100s of us were evacuated/had homes cordoned off, not all returned. But @RBKC councillors know this (Wider #Grenfell Rehousing Policy) & wouldn’t belittle residents by implying some, literally, don’t count."

OP posts:
HelenaDove · 18/04/2019 00:29

twitter.com/PilgrimTucker/status/1111697932670128128

Pilgrim Tucker
💚
@PilgrimTucker
Mar 29

After finding contaminants causing cancer, respiratory and nerve problems up to 160x normal levels around the tower, it’s now known that 60,000 bags of toxic waste from Grenfell Tower are being stored in garages underneath neighbouring flats.

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 18/04/2019 00:31

The council is understood to now be working to further adapt the accommodation and providing two housing occupational therapists and a personal assistant.

If someone can prove to me that this is cheaper than taking out the existing kitchen and putting in one that this woman could use I will eat my hat.

MidniteScribbler · 18/04/2019 03:12

Sounds like he is expecting the world handed to him on a silver platter. No mention in any of that of what he is doing to help his own family, just demand after demand.

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 18/04/2019 03:23

Apparently he works in PR. I think he actually finding a solution isn't what he really wants

If they don't like what the council is offering them, why don't they sort out their own accommodation?

mathanxiety · 18/04/2019 03:37

Temperatures in the Grenfell fire were about 1,000°C.

Aluminium melts at 600°.

Quite honestly, the response of the Council in general smacks of Donald Trump's 'thoughts and prayers'.

Also very much 'cake and eat it'.
They can't on the one hand insinuate (as they did in the wake of the fire) that the wishes of the residents were so important to them that they did not install sprinklers but two years on fail to pay attention to what former residents are saying about the accommodation they are being offered.

If I were a former resident I wouldn't trust the Council as far as I could throw them. Self serving liars the lot of them.

CrotchetyQuaver · 18/04/2019 10:19

@AmICrazyorWhat2 I would think that private rented accommodation rates in Kensington are likely unaffordable to all but the very rich which is why they want to stay as RBKC tenants where the rent will be much cheaper.

rosesandcashmere · 18/04/2019 10:30

I have limited sympathy left for them after reading more about it. Several rejections or suitable accommodation. I know what happened is terrible but people struggle to get the right housing everywhere and what they want just isn't possible. I would remove them from the list at this point. Absolute disgrace considering how many would jump at the chance to be housed!

Deathraystare · 18/04/2019 11:25

Yes people struggle to get housing full stop but it must be so much worse to be offered sub standard places and not trust the council after Grenfall if you were part of it. I dare say some are "trying their luck" but I do have pots of sympathy for those that lived there. How can anyone trust that bastard council anymore??

TheSerenDipitY · 18/04/2019 11:36

weird, most window frames in New Zealand are aluminium, many sliding and french doors are also, we do also have wooden, and a couple of places are offering the plastic type you have over there in the UK, i would have thought plastic and wood would be more flammable and provoke more fear, what else do you use for windows and flashing over there that is less flammable and more suitable to ease their fears?

SouthWestmom · 18/04/2019 11:43

Well either he's an opportunist or there's more going on in terms of poor treatment and corruption and he's shining a light.
He's been very visible, was the one who comes up associated with a rant asking for resignations at the town hall, has an IMDb page, has a petition going etc.

Nicknacky · 18/04/2019 11:59

I do understand his distrust, I do. But if he isn’t going to trust any property they offer him then what are the council supposed to do? What’s the solution?

strawberrypenguin · 18/04/2019 12:19

But they turned down a permanent home. Sound like lots of help has been offered up to this point.
No house is fire proof and while I can't imagine what they experienced I think you also have to realistic about the housing councils can offer.