Homeowners accuse council of hiding report revealing homes have "no major structural defects" (From Sutton Guardian)

Homeowners accuse council of hiding report revealing Orlit homes have "no major structural defects"

6:00am Friday 8th February 2013 in News By James Pepper

Homeowners accuse council of hiding report revealing Orlit homes have "no major structural defects"

Pensioners being forced to sell their homes by Sutton Council have accused it of hiding a report which shows the structural condition of the houses are "largely sound".

Twenty home owners in Carshalton, have been issued with compulsory purchase orders so the council can knock down their homes as part of a new 87 home housing development.

The pensioners do not want to sell up, but the council has said the homes need to be redeveloped because they have developed serious structural faults, and there is high demand for new housing.

Last week they finally received a report from building surveyors Pellings which they have been asking for since the end of 2011.

It looked at the maintenance and structural stability of the Orlit houses in 2009 for the Sutton Housing Partnership and concluded that they appeared to have "no major structural problems".

While the homes were deemed defective under the housing act 1985, the more recent report said: "No major structural defects were found only what can be described as superficial impairments which require repairs in the short term."

Councillor Jane McCoy said in April last year, the homes had become "structurally unsound."

At last week's Orlit Home owners Association meeting - a group set up by the 20 leaseholders to get a better deal from the council - the group said they all felt the report had been withheld to try and mask the fact their homes were not as defective as the council was trying to portray.

The group are now getting legal representation to write to the secretary of state to complain about how they have been dealt with, and some are in conversation with the local government ombudsman.

Sutton Council is offering the home owners between £140,000 and £150,000 to buy back the homes it sold to them under the right to buy scheme in the 1980s, although the residents have private valuations in the region of £180,000.

An Orlit home, 18 Green Wrythe Crescent, was sold on the open market on October 14, 2010 for £175,000.

Sutton Council has offered the home owners a swap deal where they will be given one of the smaller newly built homes.