Residents in a block of 116 flats in Toxteth were told they would all have to leave within a matter of weeks in what council bosses are investigating as a possible "illegal" eviction attempt.
Residents at Parliament Place on Upper Parliament Street received the notice on March 6 after being told there was a serious fire safety issue at the block. It emerged shortly after that the company which owns the building, Isle of Man-based freeholder Schloss Roxburghe Holdings Ltd, was in the process of negotiating with Serco and the Home Office to house asylum seekers at the block as part of an “emergency housing scheme.”
Liverpool Council has confirmed it is investigating a possible “illegal eviction” attempt after residents woke up to discover a letter plastered on internal doors of the building.
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Parliament Place had been built by Parliment [sic] Place Ltd after planning permission was granted for the building in 2015. It is now owned by Schloss Roxburghe Holdings Ltd, the ultimate ownership of which is unclear due to companies laws in the Isle of Man.
The notice, signed on behalf of Schloss Roxburghe, said tenants would be required to leave the building after a serious fire safety defect had been identified following an inspection at the premises.
It said works would have to be carried out which would cause “disruption” to the building, meaning it would not be “practical” for tenants to remain.
The letter stated: “Therefore you will require alternative accommodation.”
Residents were offered £500 if they agreed within a matter of days to leave the building by early April, suggesting alternative accommodation in a student block nearby at Benson Yard.
The move prompted some of the residents to get in touch with their local MP, Kim Johnson, who in turn contacted Liverpool Council.
In a response from interim chief executive Theresa Grant, seen by the ECHO, Ms Grant said residents were being advised to stay in the building and that the council were investigating the matter as an “illegal eviction.”
Ms Grant said: “The council’s interim divisional manager – neighbourhood development advises that her team are investigating this matter as an illegal eviction and therefore will be advising residents to stay in their properties.
“We are also writing to the responsible person now by email to explain that their conduct is not appropriate and falls far below any behaviour we expect of our private sector landlords and desist with the illegal removal of tenants.”
Residents had also contacted the block’s management company, Urban Evolution, which had sent a copy of the letter out to some of the residents.
In an email from Urban Evolution seen by the ECHO, tenants were told the company had “zero influence” over the actions of the freeholder and was not acting on their behalf.
However, when residents contacted them in uproar over the notices, Urban Evolution said it would contact the freeholder and arrange a meeting, sending a further email later that day stating there was “positive news.”
That email, sent by Urban Evolution director Ross Spencer stated: “We have engaged in discussions with the freeholder on your behalf and they have decided to retract the communication.
“This means you can disregard the letter and continue in your existing tenancy without any concerns.
“We have done everything in our power to have them reconsider and retract the letter since it was distributed and are pleased to report back with positive news.”
It added: “To confirm our advice is to stay put and your current tenancy agreement will be honoured.”
While the news left residents, who spoke to the ECHO on condition of anonymity, feeling “elated and relieved” there was also “growing concern” about the fire safety issue referred to in the letter.
One resident, who had only moved into the property a few months earlier, told the ECHO: “My first thought when I saw the letter was where are all these 116 people in this building going to go?
“Many of us aren’t students, we couldn’t move to the student accommodation they mentioned and it’s not easy to find places round here.”
He said that after the eviction notice was reversed his concerns turned to the issue of the building itself: “My worry in the back of my mind is how safe is this building. They said it was over safety, that the building’s not safe and then say never mind, just forget about it. Well it’s either safe or unsafe – which is it?”
Liverpool Council confirmed a fire officer had attended the premises but that only “minor” works were identified which would not have required tenants to leave the building.
The block’s management company Urban Evolution said: “Of course the building is safe” and provided the ECHO with copies of recent fire safety reports, also detailing only minor issues with the building.
A leaseholder who owns an individual unit in the block said they had first been told about plans to ask tenants to leave over fire safety issues in February.
The leaseholder, who asked not to be named, said that shortly after that they were contacted by Michael Murphy of Prime Management Ltd, another Isle of Man-based company, who said the company was the building’s “retained asset manager”.
According to that email, which was seen by the ECHO, the freeholder was in the process of doing a deal with Serco and Home Office for the block to be used as a part of an “emergency housing scheme.”
The email from Mr Murphy was sent to leaseholders on February 10 and stated that a deal was imminent with Serco, a company which provides accommodation on behalf of the Home Office for asylum seekers.
The email spoke of an “excellent” contract being worked out for housing people in the block and referred to the Home Office, which is the lead government department for immigration, passports, drugs policy, crime, fire, counterterrorism and police as “the government’s housing agency body.”
It adds that residents already living in the building would be “moved out” to accommodate the plans.
The email said: “We are pleased to write to you to let you know that this Building has been identified by the United Kingdom Home Office, which is the government’s housing agency body, as a Building that they would like to occupy for use by it in connection [sic] its emergency housing program.
“Ourselves and representatives of the Home Office undertook a full survey of the Building in December 2022. They have now issued the attached heads of terms to us confirming that they would like to occupy the Building for an initial fixed term of 12 months, with a view to extending this to 7 year lease, with a break at year 5 and an upward only rent review.
“Having the UK Government as a tenant of the Building of this nature is an excellent result for all stakeholders of this Building (us as freeholder, you as leaseholders and the incumbent lettings and block managers).”
The email said there were “immediate advantages” for the leaseholders, adding that the government would cover all costs of maintenance and repair at the building.
It continued: “We are in the process of providing the Home Office with further compliance documents they have requested (and which we have already obtained from the block manager) and have arranged for them to carry out their final compliance check of the Building on 15 February 2023. They will then take occupation of the building w/c 20 February 2023.”
The leaseholder said they were aware residents of Parliament Place had not been told at that point of any plans to move them from the building, and said the move sparked alarm among many.
A further email dated February 17 was then sent out by Prime Management addressing some of the questions raised by the leaseholders.
That email, also from Michael Murphy, stated: “Firstly, the time line will slip as the alternative accommodation that existing tenants will have the opportunity to move to, needs a 2-week lead in time to be able to accommodate them.
“The property is less than half a mile away from [Parliament Place] and is a purpose-built new building, of a much higher standard.”
That building, Benson Yard, is an 11-storey student block near Mount Pleasant which has recently been completed after delays brought about by companies connected to the development going into administration.
The email from Mr Murphy adds that the cost of relocating tenants, who would be offered a “financial compensation payment for any inconvenience caused by having to end their tenancy early” would be met by the Home Office.
The email also states: “If a tenant does not want to move then there is no obligation on them to do so.”
It also adds that the “incumbent block manager”, which is Urban Evolution would be retained as part of the arrangement. CEO of Urban Evolution Ross Spencer said the freeholder had “acted independently of Urban Evolution not in conjunction with” adding that a contract with Serco would be “detrimental to Urban Evolution for multiple reasons.”
Just over two weeks after leaseholders had been contacted by Prime Management, tenants at the block received the letter from Schloss Roxburghe Holdings Ltd telling them they would have to leave their flat in a matter of weeks due to a “fire safety issue.”
One of the residents said that he and others at the block had “no idea” negotiations were going on around plans to move residents out of the building to accommodate the Serco deal, adding he found the emails from Prime Management Ltd “distressing.”
He said: “It’s shocking. I think it’s a revelation that will cause a lot of anxiety and stress for residents.”
The leaseholder said that when residents were told they would have to leave on March 6 they were “outraged.”
The person, who has asked not to be identified, said: “There’s a group of leaseholders of this block, when we were informed of the move by the freeholder, we told residents to stay put.
“We contacted the freeholder’s representatives and said they can’t do this, there’s people in this building and they can’t just kick them out like that.”
The leaseholder said they were in “no doubt” that the move was motivated by the Home Office contract. They said: “They told us it would be a very lucrative contract for us all. We were concerned”, adding that several leaseholders also contacted Serco to advise them the buliding was actually already nearly fully occupied by paying tenants.
They added that they had no further communication from Schloss Roxburghe or Prime Management updating them on what was going on, only finding out from residents of the block that the eviction would no longer proceed. They said they “gathered” from that that the Serco deal was also no longer taking place.
The Home Office was contacted for comment about the emails sent by Prime Management Ltd and the move to evict tenants. A spokesperson said the Home Office would not comment on “operational issues.”
Serco also declined to comment but a spokesperson did confirm that discussions had been taking place over the use of Parliament Place. However, following issues discovered during due diligence it is understood Serco withdrew from pursuing the building and have no plans to use it in the future.
Serco also confirmed it did not seek out buildings that were already tenanted or where tenants would be asked to leave to accommodate asylum seekers.
Urban Evolution said that it acted on behalf of leaseholders and not the freeholder, adding: “If we have forwarded the letter on it is as an FYI in the vein of transparency rather than in support of, as soon as we were made aware of the letter being distributed we frantically tried to contact the freeholder to understand the position.”
They added that many residents had been “thankful” for the company’s intervention to stop the eviction.
Liverpool Council confirmed an investigation was still ongoing into the eviction attempt, with a spokesperson also adding they had been previously given notice that Serco was intending to use the building.
Prime Management and Schloss Roxburghe were also contacted for comment.
A statement sent on behalf of Schloss Roxburghe Holdings Ltd said: “We had been asked if we could investigate the feasibility of using our building on Parliament Place to house asylum seekers on behalf of the Home Office and explored the practical issues of doing so. This included undertaking due diligence as to the building’s condition and seeking the vacant possession of the block, which we did under legal advisement to ensure that we followed the rules properly and fully.
"During this process it became apparent that the upheaval to tenants would simply be too great and so after consultation with many leaseholders, we decided not to proceed. Whilst this was at some cost to the company it was simply the right thing to do.
“The issue of fire safety is one we take extremely seriously and residents will rightly want reassurance that the building complies with all relevant codes.
“Whist assessing the block’s suitability for its proposed new role, the local authority recommended the installation of additional fire sounders at various points throughout the building, including in some apartments. To allow this to happen residents were given notice to terminate their tenancy but once we made the decision not to proceed with the building’s conversion we put in place a programme that would allow us to undertake the works with tenants in situ.
“Throughout the process we kept the leaseholders and their managing agents informed of our intentions as freeholder and, likewise, the residents.”
A spokesperson for both Schloss Roxburghe and Prime Management said the comment from Schloss Roxburghe also functioned as a comment from Prime Management because they were part of the “same group of companies”, later adding that Prime Management in fact owned Schloss Roxburghe.
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