Pensioners in retirement housing face £150,000 fire safety bill, but McCarthy and Stone isn’t reponsible (nor is FirstPort, and NHBC hasn’t responded)

And flats at Cestrian Court, built in 2008, have dismal resale values of £40,000 in 2020 (sold new by McCarthy and Stone: £153,950); £55,000 in 2019 (new: £142,950) and £85,000 in 2018 (new: £154,508)

Pensioners at Cestrian Court in Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, are looking at bills for £150,000 to put right historic build defects even though the site was only built by McCarthy and Stone in 2008.

The building appears to lack fire compartmentalisation in the loft, which was one of the defects at Gibson Court, in Hinchley Wood in Surrey, also built by McCarthy and Stone, which burned down and resulted in the death of Irene Cockerton, 87, in September 2011.

FirstPort commissioned a “passive fire safety review” which repeatedly references: “This defect is considered not to have met the guidance at the time of construction”.

Nonetheless, the bill is heading for the pensioner leaseholders.

The build defects at Cestrian Court have implications for the entire retirement housing stock.

Full report on www.BetterRetirementHousing.com

Pensioners face £150,000 fire safety bill at Cestrian Court, but McCarthy and Stone isn’t reponsible (nor is FirstPort) – Better Retirement Housing

Pensioners at Cestrian Court in Chester-le-Street, Co Durham, are looking at bills for £150,000 to put right historic build defects even though the site was only built by McCarthy and Stone in 2008.

BetterRetirementHousing.com / Leasehold Nowledge Partnership have raised the issue with McCarthy and Stone, FirstPort and the NHBC, copying in housing minister Stephen (Lord) Greenhalgh, local MP for North Durham Kevan Jones, and our patron MPs Sir Peter Bottomley, Justin Madders and Sir Ed Davey.

• 1/ How many other retirement sites are facing huge bills for historic build safety defects?
• 2/ Is McCarthy and Stone paying to put right any historic build safety defects: at freeholds it owns; sites where it owns the headlease and older sites where it has sold on the freehold?
• 3/ Is the NHBC making any contribution to address the costs of historic build safety defects in retirement housing that it signed off as safe?
• 4/ Why are these build safety issues, apparently addressed in previous fire safety reports, only being addressed now? Does this indicate mismanagement?

McCarthy and Stone said: “The development [Cestrian Court] had all the necessary building regulation approvals when it opened. It also had a 10-year warranty from the NHBC.

McCarthy and Stone also stated “There is no suggestion that McCarthy Stone was at fault for this fire [at Gibson Court].”

FirstPort said that it was commissioning a further report into the safety issues: “Given that this concern was not identified in previous FRAs [Fire Risk Assessments], we have also commissioned a second provider to conduct the assessment again to verify these findings before any remediation work is undertaken.”