A woman has been left devastated after she was told her newly-bought council house was set to be demolished.
Jamila Farah, 51, bought her two-bedroom home in Edmonton, north London on May 14 for £78k after living there for 20 years with her son, Galid, 24.
However, just weeks after the purchase, Enfield Council told her the entire block on the Shires estate would be knocked down and flattened.
Farah, who works for North Middlesex Hospital as a healthcare worker, now said she wishes she “never bought the flat”.
Cheshire House in Edmonton
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“I’d still be in a normal council house, and then they would have to rehouse me. Now I’m a private tenant so they won’t offer anything and I can’t afford somewhere new,” she told MyLondon.
“I just want a similar place to live, I’m not even fussed about the money now. I’m struggling with daily life. They still should look after us.”
“It would be very hard for me to rent this house now. I’m ageing, and I don’t know how much longer I can work to be able to pay the rent.”
Residents in the two 17-storey blocks on the estate, Cheshire House and Shropshire House, face rehousing following a gas leak in November last year, with fears that the building could collapse any time and was deemed too dangerous to live in.
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Enfield Council
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Enfield Council now has to pay her £230,000, after councillors agreed on a “timely buy-back” of properties owned by leaseholders based on market value, plus an extra 10 per cent in home loss compensation.
Council leader Cllr Nesil Caliskan said: “Following overwhelming backing of moving from the estate, our priority is to ensure all residents at Cheshire and Shropshire Houses get the quality home they deserve.
“A full refurbishment of the blocks, just to maintain them to an acceptable standard, would have been expensive and disruptive, so we have listened to the community at The Shires Estate who do not want to go through several months of disruption.
“Decanting the blocks will also enable the Council to put its limited resources towards improving the rest of our council homes.
“This is why we are recommending decommissioning the tower blocks, which will enable us to move residents out as soon possible into decent and safe alternative accommodation.
Cllr Caliskan added: “The safety and comfort of our residents is our priority, and this decision will ensure that residents are able to quickly access the decent housing they deserve.”
Enfield Council estimated that repair work to the 1960s building would cost £53million to bring these blocks up to standard in the short term.
The total cost of the buy-back plan has reached around £13.8million.
They also promised that there would be access to legal and surveying costs associated with buybacks for leaseholders, and they too will be supported to move.
