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Local Democracy Reporting Service

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Housing problems in one of the UK’s richest areas are getting worse in the wake of the Grenfell tower tragedy, with problems including another fatal fire and ceiling collapses, according to Kensington’s MP.

Emma Dent Coad focused her report on housing associations “whose services have deteriorated notably in the past 13 years, to the extent that some call them the new Rachmans”.

Peter Rachman was a notorious landlord in North Kensington and Paddington whose name has become a byword for exploiting tenants and treating them badly.

The Labour politician took the report’s title from a comment allegedly made to a resident who wanted help with a housing issue.

Ms Dent Coad who is also a ward councillor for Golborne in north Kensington, and was elected to Parliament days before the Grenfell fire, said she is “appalled” by many of the housing cases she is dealing with – nearly half of the 2,000 cases on her books last November.

She said her report, which follows a similar dossier she produced in 2009 “gives a snapshot of the appalling failures of management in the social housing sector which I have witnessed over the past 13 years as elected representative in Kensington, both as a Councillor and now MP”.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Housing associations should have thought ‘we have to raise our game and we have to revise how we work’ after Grenfell.”

However she said: “I often hear stories where tenants have quite literally had their lives ruined” as they seek help for housing issues.

“I am shocked and saddened to have to report that a year and a half after Grenfell, no progress has been made,” she said.

In her damning report, Ms Dent Coad said: “If we are to learn anything from the lessons of the Grenfell Tower fire, in addition to restoring confidence in fire safety and the insulation industry, we must hold our housing providers to account, and fundamentally change how housing is managed.”

The catalogue of cases she cites include a fatal fire last year at a property at Holland Park Gardens.

Ms Dent Coad claimed that tenants had warned there could be “another Grenfell”.

Housing association Catalyst said the coroner ruled the resident’s death was accidental and added: “We have no record of Emma Dent Coad or our customers raising concerns with us about it being ‘another Grenfell’.”

The MP also cited cases of ceiling collapses at several housing association properties.

She claimed that Notting Hill Genesis housing association has 29% of HA properties in Kensington, but makes up more than half of her disrepair cases.

A spokesman for Notting Hill Genesis said it invested heavily in housing association stock and aimed to deal with issues promptly.

He added:“Obviously we reject the claim that housing associations are ‘the new Rachmans’, which does a disservice to those who truly suffered at the hands of slum landlords – a regrettable part of London’s history that the housing association movement has done so much to tackle.”

Kensington and Chelsea council’s deputy leader Kim Taylor-Smith who has responsibility for housing said: “This is something local authorities like mine wrestle with on a daily basis. Many organisations and companies in the UK, in the housing sector, seem to lack some of the core values required to make real differences to people’s lives.

He added: “It cannot be right that profit comes before helping some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It needs to change. Councils not only need to build, but we need to get tough and demand higher quality housing for a better price, this includes the biggest issue of them all for residents – repairs and maintenance, where housing associations are often the worst culprits.”

Dozens of people had to be evacuated after a fire broke out at a block of flats in Woolwich Common earlier today.

A ground floor flat on Master Gunner Place was destroyed by the fire which started at around 01:14.

Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters were called to the fire which was under control by 02:09.

Part of the communal hallway and kitchen were also damaged in the blaze, the London Fire Brigade said.

There were no reports of any injuries, but the cause of the fire is under investigation by the Brigade and the Metropolitan Police.

Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin has knee surgery in Spain and is expected to be out for up to nine months.

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Today will be a cloudy start with snow flurries. Through the morning and afternoon, any snow will turn to sleet and rain, with the chance that heavy rain showers will move in from the south later.

By tonight, any sleet and rain showers will slowly clear away to the east through the night, with most places dry and cloudy by dawn.

It is expected to be cold and windy throughout most of the day.

Temperatures could reach as high as 4°C (39.2F).

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More than 40 flights from Heathrow Airport have been cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.

The flights are mainly short-haul domestic flights, which British Airways say is to "protect" the rest of its schedule.

A spokeswoman said: "Our flights to and from Gatwick and London City airports are planned to operate as normal."

Customers are being advised to check before they travel.

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There is no London Overground service due to power supply problems caused by ice on the track at Bushey.

Elsewhere on the network, there are severe delays between Gospel Oak and Barking following an earlier points failure.

Transport for London says tickets are being accepted on other reasonable London Underground routes.

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Charlton Athletic sign Antigua and Barbuda international forward Josh Parker on a permanent deal from Gillingham.

Coventry City sign winger Charlie Wakefield following his release by Chelsea, plus Reading's David Meyler on loan.

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