Dear Isabel,
Having read many sad and heartbreaking letters in your newspaper concerning huge major works bills I was surprised to see the council’s leader statement and not any mention of the leaseholders under threat of losing their homes.
Cllr Una O’Halloran’s anniversary statement paints a glowing picture of her first year as Leader, but it glosses over one of the most pressing and painful issues facing this borough: the crushing major works bills now landing on the doorsteps of long-standing leaseholders.
For many older residents — including pensioners who have lived in their homes for decades and paid every service charge without fail — demands of £50,000, £60,000, even £70,000 are simply unmanageable. These aren’t optional improvements. They are compulsory charges that risk pushing ordinary people out of the homes they’ve lived in for most of their lives.
Yet not a single word of this crisis appeared in the Leader’s statement.
While the Council celebrates housing buybacks and licensing schemes, a whole community of leaseholders is being left to fend for itself. The reality is that long-term residents are staring down the barrel of financial ruin, while others entering the borough under separate schemes will not be contributing to maintenance costs. The inevitable shortfall will fall on those already struggling — meaning even higher service charges for people who are already at breaking point.
If Islington is a “Borough of Sanctuary,” then sanctuary must apply to the people who have built, maintained and paid for this borough for decades. Right now, many of them feel abandoned and excluded from the Council’s narrative of success.
The Leader may say she is listening to residents but leaseholders facing life-changing bills would like to know when she plans to start listening to them.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Ryan
Concerned Leaseholder