Appeal for victims of Grenfell Tower

Appeal for victims of Grenfell Tower

10:38 AM, 15th June 2017, About 8 years ago 18

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As a landlord, someone very much involved in housing, I could not fail to be affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster in West London.

It raises questions to be answered including the old chestnut myself and many other private landlords raise: why do local authorities not always maintain their own housing to the same standards they set for private landlords? However, the priority at the moment is to help the victims.

The residents (and their immediate neighbours) of Grenfell Tower still need help. A wishlist has been set up on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/registry/wishlist/118PVSCYUF46H/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_an_wl_o_G.tqzbXCA67Y3
or donations (any clothes, toiletry, bedding or food items) can be left at any of these locations:
221 W11 4EY
95 W11 4EQ
210 W10 6QY

More importantly, a crowdfunding campaign has been set up to help the victims now and in the longer term: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/categories/emergencies/grenfell-tower-fire

Many thanks
Mandy Thomson


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Neil Patterson

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10:39 AM, 15th June 2017, About 8 years ago

Thank you for the information on how we can help Mandy.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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12:18 PM, 15th June 2017, About 8 years ago

I have made a donation, I hope many more Property118 readers will do so too.
.

Dr Rosalind Beck

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9:33 AM, 16th June 2017, About 8 years ago

When you go to the link there are quite a few options regarding whom to send the money to. Any recommendations regarding the most trustworthy one?

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

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9:40 AM, 16th June 2017, About 8 years ago

I'm sure they are all legitimate but I went with this one https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/time_to_help/grenfelltowerfire

I have just checked though and the target funding has now been reached. However, they appear to be accepting over-funding
.

Paul Suffolk

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12:49 PM, 16th June 2017, About 8 years ago

A truly terrible disaster, I cannot imagine the grief of those who not only lost loved ones but in some cases were actually in contact with them at the same time.

Urgent steps must be taken to work our what went wrong. However I am concerned that Corbyn and some segments of the press have been jumping on the anti-landlord band waggon. The property in the past may have not been invested in, BUT it had just had a 9-10 million pound refurbishment - at 200 units that is a huge £50 k each. That does not sound like neglect to me and is a sum that no private landlord would undertake lightly.

We must hope that political emotions & threats of legal action, do not slow down the search for what went wrong for the sake of the families and people living in similarly refurbished blocks.

CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS

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13:13 PM, 16th June 2017, About 8 years ago

Its is heartbreaking what has happened to those who lived at Grenfell Tower.
The pressure that is put on Social Landlords with new schemes such landlord licencing yet it appears that Local Authority Housing is not regulated.
In 2017 with fire regulations put in place things like this should not be happening.

Sandra Pomeroy

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15:40 PM, 16th June 2017, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Paul Suffolk" at "16/06/2017 - 12:49":

I think you'll find that the £10M spent was on putting the acm cladding on the outside. This has been referred to as a 'vanity project' - just to make the building look good. And, without pre-empting the findings of any enquiry - it was this material that so readily caught alight, turning Grenfell Tower into an inferno within minutes.

Without it, it has been argued, the fridge/cooker fire that started it would have been contained within the one flat.

Also - at £50k per flat - you'd think the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea could have prioritised sprinklers, emergency stair lighting and fire alarms!

I don't think its fair just to single out Corbyn for his comments - the right-whinge press have been happily swiping at Sadiq Khan, as though he personally put the fire hazard up!

Darlington Landlord

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20:50 PM, 16th June 2017, About 8 years ago

This is a heartwrenching tragedy which could have seen much less loss of life if better fire precautions had been in place. I am sure we will all want to support the victims.
Whatever the refurbishment, one failure is the alarm system which applied to individual flats and which many evacuees reported not hearing, plus (according to the news) the flamability of the external cladding. (this is a potential concern for anyone who has had external wall insulation), furthermore, despite recommendations of the coroners of previous tragedies sprinkler systems have not been retrofitted to older council tower blocks.
However private landlords with converted flats at 3 plus storeys have been required to retrofit L2 (hardwired with sounders throughout the building) fire alarms since about 1996, and to fireproof the means of escape for 30-60 minutes.
If this rule had applied to council and housing association flats more people could have been warned in time to evacuate. We should push for equal safety standards for private and public/housing association tenants.

Puzzler

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9:23 AM, 17th June 2017, About 8 years ago

My donation is to the Red Cross. I do not trust any other funding campaign to be properly administered although I accept the intention is good. Will it be a trust? Has it been set up as a charity? Also high profile disaster generates high level of support, out of proportion to need but less newsworthy ones do not.

Dr Rosalind Beck

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9:27 AM, 17th June 2017, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Puzzler " at "17/06/2017 - 09:23":

I agree and was glad to see the Red Cross is now also involved (although even there I haven't looked into the ins and outs such as the chief executive's salary etc).

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