St Francis Tower: Residents of flooded block offered pay settlement

Residents of a 17-storey tower block that was evacuated due to flooding have been offered a pay settlement to arrange their own accommodation.

People living at St Francis Tower in Ipswich have been in temporary accommodation after flooding in the flats on 1 July.

They have been offered a payment of £3,150 in lieu of their accommodation being arranged.

However, one landlord said management were "making a bad situation worse".

Property company Pier Management has been contacted for comment.

An email sent to residents from Pier Management said flats on the first seven floors remained "uninhabitable".

The funds could be used for people to make their own accommodation arrangements during what could be "several months" of repairs to the affected flats, the email stated.

At the time it was flooded, the tower block was already undergoing work and had been wrapped in plastic sheeting for several years to allow the replacement of unsafe cladding, identified after the Grenfell fire disaster.

Pier Management said in the letter that it was working with partners to carry out the work "as quickly as possible" - but an exact timescale was unknown.

For those who did not choose the one-off payment accommodation costs will continue to be covered until work has been completed, within insurance policy limits.

The management company said "given the total number of properties affected, it is unlikely there will be enough adequate short term rentals" close to the block of flats to accommodate everyone and in some cases hotels may be the only option.

Affected residents are also entitled to £15 per person, per day while the flats are uninhabitable.

Anyone who accepts the cash offer will not be entitled to more payments and will have to remove the contents of their flat for repair work to be carried out, the email said.

Ross Bonner, who rents out flats in the tower block, said people were in "a state of shock".

"Everyone is aggrieved," he said. "The management are making what is a bad situation worse - anxious minds are now becoming riotous.

"You've got an offer that's been handed out, without any communication to the landlords and leaseholders in the block, to the residents to tell them to take an inadequate sum, clear their belongings and leave their properties.

"It just seems untoward."

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