Fire safety concerns over Canterbury House in East Croydon

Canterbury House, in Sydenham Road, East Croydon, has round-the-clock fire patrols while its owner, Criterion Hospitality, awaits the outcome of a funding application to the Cladding Safety Scheme.

But tenants with mobility problems say that in the meantime, they live in fear of a fire breaking out.

The block’s safety lift, which firefighters are supposed to use in emergencies, has been out of order for around a year, several residents said.

Firefighters reportedly only discovered it was broken when they were called out this month to rescue people trapped in the other lift, which also keeps breaking down.

That was the first of two call-outs in nine days to rescue tenants trapped in the faulty second lift.

It then broke down again for almost two weeks.

Alex Shylokov and Katrina Sejdija outside Canterbury House in Sydenham Road, near East Croydon train station (Image: Charles Thomson)

Your Local Guardian visited to meet affected residents last week.

“I didn’t go out for 11 days because I can’t get up and down,” said Fatima Abidi, who lives on the 10th floor. “I have back problems and sciatica.

“I’ve been here for a year and a half. One lift was working for a month and then stopped. The other one always stops.”

Ukranian refugee Alex Shylokov moved into a third-floor flat two years ago with his wife and 15-year-old son Nikolai, who is wheelchair-bound with cerebral palsy.

During the recent prolonged outage, they had to leave Nikolai’s motorised wheelchair on the ground floor and carry him up and down the stairs so he could attend school.

It meant he was without his chair whenever he was at home.

Ukranian refugee Alex Shylokov and his family have privately rented in Canterbury House for two years. He said the broken lifts caused particular trouble for his disabled teenage son, Nikolai, who is wheelchair-bound with cerebral palsy (Image: Charles Thomson)Richie James, who moved into Canterbury House in 2019, said the lifts had always been a problem.

“The first day I moved in here, my friend got stuck in the lift for about two hours,” he said. “It breaks down once or twice a month. Every second day sometimes. Sometimes for a week, sometimes two.”

He claimed tenants once had no working lift for months.

“I’m not sleeping because I’m just laying there thinking, if there’s a fire, we’re screwed,” said disabled former teacher Katrina Sejdija.

“I don’t even want to think about that,” Richie sighed.

Richie James said he had moved into the building in 2019 and the lifts had broken constantly ever since his very first day in the building (Image: Charles Thomson)

Katrina was placed in Canterbury House by Croydon Council after being made homeless by a no-fault eviction.

A degenerative spine condition and long covid have left her dependent on a walking frame. She also had a knee operation six weeks ago.

She struggles to get in and out of her first-floor flat without lifts – especially if returning with shopping.

She witnessed large collections of prams and buggies amassing in the stairwell as parents ditched them and had to carry their children upstairs.

Residents also reported that Royal Mail and delivery workers refused to climb ten storeys and instead started leaving everything in reception, forcing the recipients to keep climbing up and down to collect them.

Residents were forced to ditch their prams on the ground floor at Canterbury House and carry their children up as many as ten storeys, due to the broken lifts (Image: Katrina Sejdija)

Katrina said it was her who called the fire brigade when a young family was trapped in the lift earlier this month.

She claimed she watched a firefighter tell a staff member about the safety lift: “That one has to be fixed by tomorrow or I will shut you down.”

But it was not fixed and the building was not shut down.

When she asked London Fire Brigade (LFB) why, she claimed, she was told that if the brigade did that, all tenants would have to be decanted.

“But I’d rather be homeless than cremated,” said Katrina.

Disabled former teacher Katrina Sejdija said the broken lifts had left her struggling to tackle the stairs with her walking frame, particularly when returning home after food shopping (Image: Charles Thomson)

LFB said: “An Inspecting Officer has visited the Sydenham Road site and we continue to work closely with the building’s responsible person to address any concerns.”

An email sent by Croydon Council to a tenant this month gave more detail, saying LFB was “involved in the block for a number of reasons”.

It continued: “The fire brigade have requested works to the fire alarm, cladding and the current evacuation strategy.”

Dr Laura Kressly, who moved onto the ninth floor in 2018, received that email after raising safety concerns.

A long-term knee complaint means that when the lifts are broken, “I only go out when I have to for work… It takes me a really long time to get up and down the stairs. Sometimes my husband has to help me.”

Residents said one lift at Canterbury House (the firefighters' safety lift) had been broken for around a year, while the other one routinely broke down for days or weeks at a time (Image: Katrina Sejdija)

Criterion Hospitality, and the managing agent for some of the flats, Aura Assets Management, were both contacted for comment – twice – but did not respond.

Croydon Council said: “We have been liaising with the management company at Canterbury House regarding the lifts.

“They have informed us that one of the lifts has been repaired and is now working.

“The second is due to be fixed on Friday and we will follow up to ensure the works have taken place.

“The management company have apologised to residents for the inconvenience, which we understand was due to a delay in obtaining parts.”