Several factors contributed to the decision to end you and your neighbours’ tenancies at Goodwood Apartments, which we have explained below for your reference.

1. As you already know, your home at Goodwood Apartments is part of our programme of planned works on the estate. In fact, Goodwood Apartments has the longest works programme (just under one year) due to the nature of the building and for this reason must be remediated first. The work required will be very disruptive to residents and cannot be carried out in sections because the building only has one entrance and staircase. It will therefore be necessary for all residents to move out while the work takes place. 
2. As we progress with works on other blocks on the estate, we will need to rehouse these residents somewhere close by on a temporary basis. L&Q do not have another building on site or close to the estate and therefore using Goodwood, which predominately will by then have been remediated, will allow us to move as many residents close by rather than to multiple addresses across L&Q homes elsewhere in London. This process will take place over the course of the next four years, while the works are carried out at Walthamstow Stadium.
3. The different types of tenancies or leases L&Q holds with residents on site allows for less flexibility to some of our other tenants, i.e., affordable rents, shared owners, and leaseholders, who have different clauses within their tenancies and leases.
4. There are already a number of empty homes at Goodwood Apartments. Recently, we have not relet these in an attempt to start remediation works on individual properties. However, as we explained above, we now know this is not possible and the block needs be remediated all at once, given the nature of its design. The existence of the empty apartments, however, does mean that there are now less homes in total impacted by this termination of contracts compared to other blocks on site which are mostly occupied.

Taking all the above into consideration, we have come to the decision that once Goodwood Apartments has been remediated, it will provide temporary housing to residents in the remaining blocks for the next four years while the works take place at Walthamstow Stadium. 

Several teams have been involved in putting together the programme of works and temporary rehousing programme for Walthamstow Stadium. The programme was then signed off by L&Q’s Investment and Property Group (IPG).

The Investment and Property Group (IPG) is made up of senior members of L&Q staff. The group is part of our formal governance process and reviews and makes decisions on all Development projects, including the programme of works at Walthamstow Stadium

Please note that senior members of L&Q do not actively monitor their social media accounts, including Linked In. If you want to raise a complaint, please follow our official complaints procedure that can be found on our website.

We are serving notice on your tenancy, which we have a legal right to do, due to the tenancy type (Assured Shorthold Tenancy). 

Although works are required in the properties at Goodwood Apartments, there is also the need to use the properties to rehouse other residents on the estate over a 4-year period, which is why we are required to serve notice and any clauses relating to alternative accommodation do not apply.

To see what other PRS rental homes we have available, visit our rental options page: www.lqgroup.org.uk/your-home/tenants/rental-options

To find out more information about a property you may be interested in, please contact Gemma White from our PRS team on GWhite2@lqgroup.org.uk.

We also have London Living Rent (LLR) properties which support people who are renting and want to get on the property ladder.

LLR allows you to rent a home at a discounted rate, often up to 50% less than you would expect to pay for a similar home on the open market. With these savings, you can go on to purchase the property that you already call home in the future.

For more information about our London Living Rent schemes at L&Q, visit our website: https://properties.lqhomes.com/properties-to-rent/london-living-rent/ or contact Zakiya Pathan on ZPathan@lqgroup.org.uk.

The support we can offer will depend on your specific needs. We are asking all residents to make a one-to-one appointment with us to discuss their individual circumstances.

 If you choose to, you can approach the council for assistance. However, Waltham Forest cannot offer social housing to most of those who apply for it, so it is unlikely that they will be able to provide you with any housing options. 

You have an Assured Shorthold Tenancy, and as part of this tenancy agreement, we have the legal right to serve notice if required. We want to work with you while you secure your onward move, but if a resident refuses to move, we will progress the Section 21 notice to legally end their tenancy. 

The discretionary offer is to acknowledge the inconvenience being caused to you and to assist with moving costs.

The terms of the formal discretionary payment offer are as follows:

1. We will pay £2,500 once you sign the Tenancy Termination Form which will be provided alongside the legal notice. 
2. We will pay £2,500 once you sign the Tenancy Termination Form which will be provided alongside the legal notice. 
3. The payments referred to above will be subject to set off in the first instance against any liabilities owing by you to L&Q (for example rent or service charge arrears). 

Please be advised that this offer is non-negotiable.

The scaffolding takes a number of months to erect so is starting shortly to be ready for works to start at Goodwood Apartments in Spring 2023.

Our offer to return to you your deposit prior to the end of your tenancy was purely a goodwill gesture to support you with any upfront moving costs.

Each of the homes at Walthamstow Stadium require remedial works to resolve identified issues. This includes Goodwood Apartments. 

We have prioritised works related to building safety. From late 2020, we have been installing communal linked alarm systems across all the blocks as a precaution. We have also changed all the external cladding and checked fire barriers following the issues highlighted by Grenfell.

In 2020, we formed a project group to carry out surveys on various blocks. We also removed ceilings, walls, and windows in a number of empty homes to try to establish what was causing the estate-wide problems.

We are using Calford Seaden, our third-party expert, to review and undertake individual property assessments to ensure we capture all feedback from residents before agreeing a scope of works.

A number of investigations and reports have been carried out in the past two years across Walthamstow Stadium to inform the programme of works. 

When we last wrote to residents at the start of this year about the investigations and proposed works to their homes, the temporary rehousing programme had not been finalised.

Since then, a number of teams have worked on the temporary rehousing plan, and for the reasons given in the first response, confirmed that Goodwood Apartments would be needed to provide temporary rehousing to other residents throughout the 4 year works programme.

To reduce the need for you to move more than once or have to live in a temporary home for the whole of this period, it was decided that your tenancy would be ended at Goodwood Apartments, so you only had one permanent move away from Walthamstow Stadium. 

When any tenancy agreement at Walthamstow Stadium (not just Goodwood residents) was up for renewal, residents were contacted and advised that all PRS tenancies would become rolling contracts while the remedial works investigations were going on. This was in order to give residents the option of moving elsewhere more easily should they desire this without needing to give the normal notice period required (two months). With a rolling contract, residents only need to give one month.

Each household is different, with diverse needs. To support you as best we can, we need to work with each of you individually. This also ensures your privacy.

We have delayed issuing Section 21 notices until January 2023 and you will have until March 2023 to find a new home.

As mentioned above, Goodwood Apartments will be needed as temporary housing for the next four years. To reduce the need for you to move more than once or have to live in a temporary home for the whole of this period, you will need to move out permanently.

As Lingfield Apartments has not had its remediation works yet, you would not be able to move here. Like Goodwood, Lingfield Apartments must be empty to undertake the full remediation works programme. 

We will work with you to ensure that you get the following support from L&Q: 

• Help to make sure you understand the moving process
• Moving support if you have a medical condition or support needs and do not have friends or family to help 
• Your deposit (if you have one with L&Q) will be processed and returned promptly to you 
• You will receive a discretionary payment of £5,000 for the inconvenience caused.
• We will give you information about other L&Q properties you can move into, should you so choose

If you would like to talk about anything related to Goodwood Apartments and moving home, please contact your Property Manager, Irmina Machnio, on 020 8189 2244 or at irminamachnio@lqgroup.org.uk.