My £142k home is unsellable after builders made a MAJOR blunder and then went bust... I'm trapped

A furious leaseholder has claimed he is unable to sell his home because his developer failed to remove illegal cladding on a giant block of flats before plunging into administration.

Geoff Radcliffe, 58, owns one of the 132 flats at the Wharfside development in Wigan, Greater Manchester, where leaseholders say they are now trapped with their properties after housing giant Stewart Milne Homes went bust in January.

Stewart Milne, which contracts management company Contour to look after the site, is legally responsible for fixing all life-threatening fire safety defects in the homes - but innocent leaseholders have been left unable to sell, while their home insurance and management fees have soared out of control.

Campaigners say it is 'simply unacceptable' that this is still going on nearly seven years after the Grenfell Tower fire in west London, where highly-flammable ACM cladding caused the horrific blaze that killed 72 people.

There was also a serious fire at the Wharfside development in 2015, which damaged dozens of flats but fortunately no one was injured.

This is the latest example of homeowners fighting against developers amid the shocking cladding scandal in Britain. 

The collapse of Stewart Milne Homes followed by Manchester-based Stewart Milne Homes Northwest England (Developments) has left families across the country facing huge uncertainty over their homes.

Geoff Radcliffe, 58, (pictured) owns one of the 132 flats at the Wharfside development in Wigan, Greater Manchester

Leaseholders at the Wharfside development in Wigan say they are now trapped with their properties after housing giant Stewart Milne Homes went bust in January

Mr Radcliffe, a leaseholder who bought one of the first-ever properties at Wharfside in 2007, told MailOnline: 'It's extremely stressful. It's certainly affected my mental health. The financial consequences are just frightening.'

Despite the Building Safety Act coming in from June 2022, the leaseholders were only able to make contact with Stewart Milne Homes in October 2023 before finally being presented with cladding plans last December. The housing firm went bust a month later.

Mr Radcliffe, an engineer, continued: 'The fact that we were so near to getting the cladding repaired and then with Stewart Milne go into administration, the whole thing has ground to a halt. It's going to be a minimum of three years before we make any progress.'

Mr Radcliffe, who bought his home for £142,000, said he is trapped now, explaining: 'We've got mortgages on these properties and we are just stuck. I was one of the first ones to buy. I'd be lucky if I got £40,000 for it now.'

He added: 'You can't raise a mortgage against them because of the fire safety issue. The cladding needs correcting before people can buy, unless they are cash buyers.

'We are stuck in a rut, paying very high service charges. The vast majority of the service charge relates to insurance.'

Mr Radcliffe continued: 'Insurance has gone up probably 3,500 per cent, astronomical levels. There is nothing we can do about that, we have to pay it. On top of the other service charge elements.

'The rents are very competitive but when you add it all up, as a leaseholder who lets my property, I am running at a loss of about £5,000-a-year because of insurance costs and other fire safety-related issues and repairs.'

When asked about the dangers of dodgy cladding, he said: 'There are 132 apartments, probably with an average occupancy of two to three, so you've got all those lives potentially at risk. There already was a fire, fortunately someone was hurt, everyone escaped.'

Mr Radcliffe also said there were months that went by where residents were 'distressed' by false fire alarms going off 24/7 because the wrong type of sensors were installed.

'There is a decent alarm system in now but we've had so many false alarms, we may end up in a situation where there is a genuine fire and people don't respond to the alarm. The management company [Contour] washed their hands of it,' he added.

Oliver Barton, 25, (pictured) has been renting for a year with his wife Vicky, 28, and their daughter Claudia, four, at the development 

Stewart Milne, which contracts management company Contour to look after the site, is legally responsible for fixing all life-threatening fire safety defects in the homes

Mr Radcliffe said that around two years ago they had correspondence from the managing company to say the leaseholders were responsible for the 'costs of the compartmentation which was incorrect.

He said when he contacted the Department for Levelling, they confirmed it was 'erroneous and wrong'.

He continued: 'We have nowhere to go, there is no guidance. There isn't a flow chart which says if this happens go this way or if this happens go this way, there's no clear route. We've just hit a dead end and we are just sitting here.

'We are waiting for the freehold to be sold but whoever buys the freehold will be responsible for replacing the cladding. If the freehold isn't sold, I don't know what happens.'

Since Stewart Milne went bust, the development is now in the hands of the administrators, Teneo.

The leaseholders had a minor victory when it was decided that they would take over the right to manage from June 1, at which point they will be able to appoint contractors to carry out general maintenance and repairs on the building.

Mr Radcliffe said lessons have not been learned from the previous fire at the development and the Grenfell blaze.

He explained: 'The Building Safety Act, we thought that was fantastic when it came out, we thought at last some common sense but it just seems like it's a red herring because no one is willing to take any responsibility.

'We weren't responsible for specking this cladding, we didn't sign off on any of the specifications. We entered into contract, we bought in good faith.

'The local authority singed off on the fire safety element of it, but they have kind of a limited responsibility, so this comes down to the developer, the architects and the designers.'

The leaseholders say they will have to fund the removal of the cladding, which they claim is also creating leaks in the rundown development because it 'traps water'.

Mr Radcliffe added: 'So what we need to do when we take over the right to manage is we have to fund removal of the cladding, repair of the leaks, replacement of the very same cladding. It's just nuts.

'We will appoint contractors to carry out general maintenance and repairs on the building. It's coming out of service charges, but at least we will be able to control our service charges.'

Mr Radcliffe says leaseholders were 'sold a dream' when they bought into the regeneration project, adding: 'It's just been grossly mismanaged.

Mr Radcliffe, who bought his home for £142,000, said he is now trapped after the developer went bust 

The collapse of Stewart Milne Homes has left families across the country facing huge uncertainty over their homes

He said he was proud to put money into a regeneration of the town he's from and hoped to see the property increase in value before selling to help boost his pension.

A second leaseholder, John Mullany, 73, said he was desperate for the cladding issue to be fixed.

The former company director, who bought his property at the development two years ago with his wife Hilary, added: 'That has to be priority number one.

'There was a meeting to present a range of cladding to the leaseholders to say this is what we are thinking of doing and coming up with the cost of it and whether we would have had to put more money in it.

'Stewart Milne was at this meeting, this was only a couple months before we found out they were going bankrupt. It was a nice invitation, 'we are holding it here, there will be food, come along, you can talk to management company Contour, you can talk to Stewart Milne as the property owner'. That sounded great.'

Mr Mullany said that while there were even pictures of the cladding they were going to use, 'nothing came about'.

He added: 'Contour keep saying we want to get round to cladding the building, but that would not happen if we carried on with them. It's just frustrating.

'The whole thing has been very badly handled from the day we bought this place and one of the reasons we bought it, we got it at a very good price at £78,000 two years ago, we had to make a cash payment.

'We know when they were built, you were talking in 2008 they were £140,000.

'The problem is because the cladding hasn't been done, lots of people wanted to buy them at that price but they can't raise a mortgage because no one will lend money on it because of the potential of a fire.'

Mr Radcliffe said lessons have not been learned from the previous fire at the development and the Grenfell blaze

Keta Babajana (pictured), who has two young children, eight and six, said the lack of cladding and constant fire alarms going off was very concerning

When asked if leaseholders will have to pay for the cladding, he said: 'I don't know, that's the problem. There's supposed to be a safety fund put away for major expenditure. The money for the cladding has built up over years, but because they haven't done anything about it - then god knows if there's any money? So they could come back and say the leaseholders are going to have to pay.

'If that's the case, then I honestly don't think there would be enough money.'

He added: 'The insurance policy for last year, the whole of the year, was just over £9,000 for the block. This year I think it's £280,000, something like that. A lot of that is because of the cladding.

'Insurance companies say 'yeah we will insure you'. But you're culpable for the first £10,000 so if you need to put a claim in on the building, the first £10,000 is down to the leaseholder, so in other words you are not insured.'

A third leaseholder, Carole Anderton, who has had her Wharfside flat for nine years, told MailOnline: 'The issue with the cladding is getting beyond a joke, no one at Contour or Stewart Milne seems to want to know or try to get it replaced. This is being made worse by Stewart Milne going into liquidation.

'This means that our service charge has gone through the roof because of the extra building Insurance and some leaseholders are finding it difficult to make ends meet and also they are unable to sell the property because of the cladding and no bank or building society will lend anyone any money for a mortgage.

'In the nine years that I have owned the property the condition of the building has seriously deteriorated and it will cost a fortune to get it up to at least a reasonable standard and many leaseholders cannot afford to contribute.'

A fourth leaseholder, Toma Kuckaite, who has owned his Wharfside flat since 2018, told MailOnline: 'We are very unlucky to live in a building with a cladding issue… I would like to sell and get a house. However, I have invested in decoration of the apartment. The price I could get is extremely low.'

The 32-year-old, who works in electronics, added: 'I believe that Wharfside apartment is in a great location and if nicely decorated is a very good option especially for people that work or study in Manchester or Liverpool. Unfortunately, the cladding issue and poor management is stopping me from selling it.'

And a fifth leaseholder, Kathryn, who has owned her Wharfside apartment for 10 years, told MailOnline: 'I bought the apartment in good faith, unaware of cladding issues and other remediation works that would be required.

'Myself and other leaseholders have been let down by the freeholder Stewart Milne, Contour, the local council and wider government. I have suffered countless sleepless nights due to the worry and uncertainty that the apartment results in.'

The 41-year-old teacher added: 'Contour have neglected the building and I feel are an incompetent management company. They do not care about leaseholders, tenants and the reputation of Wharfside. Service charges last year increased from £126 to £302 each month. This has obviously been financially crippling.

'Leaseholders and tenants now have further uncertainty due to Stewart Milne going into liquidation. It is unclear who will fund remediation works. The future looks uncertain and again leaseholders are the innocent victims in all of this.'

Mr Radcliffe said that around two years ago they had correspondence from the managing company to say the leaseholders were responsible for the 'costs of the compartmentation'

While there are leases on all of the 132 properties, most of the residents living on the block are renters who also voiced concerns to MailOnline about the cladding and other fire-related issues.

Oliver, 25, who pays £660-a-month to rent with his wife, said: 'It's very concerning that it's not being taken seriously, and I think that's just one of numerous issues that has happened with his establishment. From the fire safety issues, the smoke detectors going off all the time, the fire alarms, the mould that's never dealt with.

'Even just the simplest of maintenance isn't getting dealt with several times, so they are not going to do something major if they won't do the minor stuff either. I've been here three years and it's frustrating.

'I think it's a hard situation to be in as a tenant and me and my wife we are only in our 20s, this is affordable for us. People, because of their financial situation, they won't move away, they will kind of just deal with it when actually it is quite serious and we shouldn't be in that position.'

Keta Babajana, who has two young children, eight and six, said the lack of cladding and constant fire alarms going off was very concerning.

The mother-of-two, who was pregnant when the building first set on fire, said: 'It is [dangerous]. A lot of people are living here, so it is not a joke.

'They [kids] are crying every night, waking up and can't sleep, because of the fire alarms going off.

'We think it's a joke because a lot of times, almost nobody comes out, they just stand on the balcony or look through the windows then the fire engines come.'

Oliver Barton, 25, has been renting for a year with his wife Vicky, 28, and their daughter Claudia, four, said: 'In terms of fire, I am quite lucky because I'm ex-forces so I know how to get people out. I am quite confident, but for everyone else I imagine it's quite scary. Unfortunately, there's not a lot that does scare me anymore.

'I can imagine with everything that's gone on, it is not the best and you would expect these people want to remedy these things as soon as possible.

'At the end of the day, if someone has an asset and they don't look after it, they expect people to live in it, if they are not looking into why should we live it and pay them the fees to maintain the building when they are not.

'Going back to it, I think it is very scary what could happen. The problem with all the false alarms is I've noticed nobody really evacuates anymore and that is a problem. It's a bad combination.

'It's not an ideal situation [for families] but unfortunately not a lot of people have a choice. There aren't a lot of places to go.'

He added: 'It's not just the cladding. The fire alarms were going off literally every ten minutes at one point, fire brigade were coming out every hour and they were the ones who have to turn it off because there's no one in the building on a rolling watch to turn it off.

'More recently, my wife, in the morning takes our daughter in the nursery, and when you go down the stairs, in the last few days a homeless person has tailgated in or found a code.

'Ever since January, I haven't seen a member of security, I believe there was one before, but there's no-one now.'

Dyma Hanley, 25, who has been renting for three years, said: 'It bothers you, you don't want to be building that's not safe and secure. It's not ideal with all the fire alarms going off when all that stuff is going on as well, because you don't know if it's serious or not, if it happens two or three times a day.

'It's not safe. If it's going off at 6am in the morning, I am going to work in an hour, I don't have time to keep going up and downstairs.

'It could be better, you look at it now, it's a bit rundown.'

Engineering surveyor Jack Hankey, 25, who has been renting for just under three years, said: 'It's not great, to be honest. I care about my own safety, but when I'm working away and my girlfriend's here, I do panic if she's going to be alright.

'I always do double, triple, quadruple check that nothing is going to set the building on fire and I've not had that worry before.'

Jennifer Frame, spokeswoman for the End Our Cladding Campaign, said: 'Nearly seven years after Grenfell, it's simply unacceptable that there are thousands of buildings across the country where the Government is just waiting for developers and building owners to get on with 'doing the right thing'.

Bedding and can of beer which have been left under a staircase by a homeless person at the Whalfside development in Wigan

Rubbish left by builders in the corridor of the development 

'Stewart Milne Homes was both the original developer and building owner of Wharfside, so it was their legal responsibility to fix all life-critical fire safety defects in these homes. There was 18 months between the passing of the Building Safety Act and when the company finally fell into administration, yet in that time they continued to stall and their agent apparently tried to pass remediation costs onto the leaseholders, which would be against the law.

'Before the firm collapsed, leaseholders had reached out to the Government for support, but they have been left to fend for themselves.'

Ms Frame said Wharfside could now apply for government funding for cladding remediation but the process if 'exceptionally slow' and leaseholders should expect a very long wait until their homes are 'safe, sellable and insurable again'.

Ms Frame continued: 'Government funding schemes also only cover cladding but do nothing to fix any non-cladding defects like the inadequate internal compartmentation and fire-stopping that allows fire to spread rapidly.

'It's a bit like fixing a car's broken accelerator pedal but leaving the faulty brakes as they are - no one would think it was acceptable to make a car half-safe, so why does the Government think homes can be half-safe?

'There needs to be consistent government policy to fully protect all innocent leaseholders from the costs of our national building safety crisis - not a game of luck depending on who their developer is.'

Stewart Milne Homes was put up for sale in April 2022 after its boss - who the firm is named after - announced his retirement.

An initial sale was suspended due to 'economic certainty' but it failed to attract a buyer when it was delisted in July last year.

The company has now entered administration, leaving more than 200 workers without jobs and homeowners fearing the worst.

Data released by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities shows major housebuilders have made little progress since Michael Gove pressured them to sign 'developer remediation contracts' in March last year.

The contract compels developers to assess buildings to identify life-threatening safety flaws such as flammable cladding and to fix them 'as soon as reasonably practicable'.

Of the 1035 blocks of flats in England where developers have agreed to repair life-endangering defects out of their own pockets, work has not yet begun on 737 (71%), according to the latest DLUCH data which uses figures to October 2023.

Teneo, the administrator for Stewart Milne Homes, declined to comment. Contour has been approached for comment.