Ellerton

CAMDEN is cashing in by renting tower block space to phone companies – but not fixing the lifts for people living inside them, it was claimed this.

Long-running repair problems have left a tenants in Ellerton in Mill Lane in West Hampstead having to walk up 11 floors each day.

It has two lifts:  One has been out of action since the start of September, while the second broke down on Friday, leaving resident stranded again. One of them had broken down six separate times in the past six months.

Leaseholder Nick Russell told the New Journal that new lifts had been installed six years ago – but had brought with them a litany of issues.

He said: “We were charged a substantial amount of money for the work but the lifts have continuously broken down.”

He said that engineers who came to fix them had accessed the roof but had not wanted to work near 5G mobile phone masts placed on the roof.

Mr Russell said: “It is unclear why the lifts constantly break down. It may be a problem to do with water leaking into the lift mechanisms and short-circuiting components.”

He said a broken air vent on machinery left it open to the elements, adding: “No one has fixed this issue. No one has identified what the problems are.”

With leaseholders having been presented with large annual service charges, and the Town Hall renting out the use of the roof to mobile phone companies, residents say the council must look at the block as a lucrative cash cow.

They estimate it brings in an income of around £200,000 a year with the aerials on top.

Mr Russell added: “None of the rental income is used to contribute to maintenance of the building, even though phone company personnel regularly use the building and lifts to access the roof for maintenance. We are furious at the incompetence and complacency of the council with respect to these ongoing lift problems, apparently arising as a consequence of the council’s earlier mistakes and failures to repair, which leave the residents of 32 flats with no lift service at all.”

A Town Hall spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise for the difficulties Ellerton residents have been experiencing with the building’s lifts. We are working to restore both lifts to full service as soon as possible. One of the lifts has a long-running problem which we are looking into, and the other lift has been in service but with an intermittent fault due to a water leak which we are working to fix as a matter of urgency.

“We have also recently tendered a range of works to Ellerton and will be holding a walkabout for residents and their representatives to talk through the planned investment for the block and the work we are doing in relation to the lifts.”