The Salvation Army has been accused of acting like “a rogue landlord” by leaving some of its private residential tenants in Hadleigh, Essex, exposed to “serious” hazards for at least seven years. Some of the charity’s tenants tell their stories here:
‘I’ve had no heating. I’ve had no water’
Peggy Jane Smith, 58, has lived in a first-floor two-bedroom Salvation Army maisonette since 1983.
When she first started renting the property, it felt like a return to her roots: she was born in a house nearby and her first trip outdoors was when her mother walked her to the ruins of Hadleigh castle.
“When I first moved in here, I was so grateful to have this place. I felt so lucky. And part of that feeling was, I thought to myself, I’ve got the Salvation Army as a landlord,” she said. “Perfect, perfect. I thought, there won’t be any bad treatment here.”
But she has now been complaining about the condition of her home for the best part of a decade. One complaint related to an infestation of rats in the property below.
“I was told by the estate manager at the time, there were no rats. There was evidently rats,” she said. “There have been floods. I’ve had no heating. I’ve had no water. There’s [the Salvation Army’s] treatment as well … they will ignore me … that is their way of treating me, ignoring me or showing contempt when they do talk to me.”
The most serious problem with Smith’s home is the fire risk, with an unsafe kitchen and very little to prevent any fire from spreading to her neighbour’s adjoining upstairs maisonette, or vice versa.
“There is no party wall between the two lofts and as a consequence, that’s a fire risk,” she said. “The actual party wall itself has a huge, great crack in it … that is a terrible fire risk. It’s only half a brick wide. Downstairs, there’s a boarded-up door that is also a fire risk … The list just goes on … there are things that really should have just been immediately dealt with.”
She adds: “It makes you wonder how much respect they actually do have for their tenants.”
Despite the problems Smith doesn’t want to move from her home. “I have lived here for 38 years and I love my home … My mother just lives up the road. I care for my mother. My friends are here. My neighbour is my friend. What move where? This is my home,” she said.
‘We feel neglected, forgotten about’
David Launn, 52, moved into a Salvation Army semi-detached home with his parents and siblings in the 1980s, when he was a teenager, and still lives there with his 88-year-old mother, Rita. For years they have been putting up with a hole in the roof that has resulted in constant damp inside the house.
“It hurts, [we feel] neglected, forgotten about,” he said. The windows need urgent attention, he said. There’s “the damp problem, obviously the roof, because we need to keep the heat in the house. Not have it blowing up out the house. The windows and the doors don’t fit properly … [I] have to have the heating on 24 hours a day to keep the house warm [in the winter].”
Rita, a Christian who lives with him and suffers from arthritis and angina, has had to have her bedroom moved to a downstairs room to avoid the worst of the problems.
She said: “[The Salvation Army treated us] badly, but at the same time, I’m sorry for them. Because they don’t realise what damage they’re doing and what harm they’re doing to other people. Not just me, all our neighbours … It hurts really.”
Rats in the loft
Barry Bull lived in a Salvation Army property in Hadleigh for 40 years – and worked as a dairyman on the charity’s farm for 30 years. His daughter says his final years were spent dealing with a cold and vermin-infested property, while he suffered from stomach cancer.
Tracey Longcroft described the treatment of her father by the Salvation Army as “disgraceful”, adding that the charity never rectified the poor condition of the accommodation.
She said the problems included rats in the loft, an insect infestation, gaps between the window panes and window frames that exposed the house to the weather and left it extremely cold during winter, a poor heating system, and dangerous electrics.
The Salvation Army offered an “unreserved apology” to the tenants of Hadleigh, adding that “for some months now we have been working on an urgent action plan to bring these properties up to the correct standard”.
