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North Londoners whose high-rises have been covered in taxes for over six years have accused their landlord of keeping them in the dark about when it will come down as they face burglaries and fears for their safety.
Occupants of the Archway Heights tower block in Islington have urged their housing association to act on the temporary structure due to severe loss of light and now rubble.
The building was wrapped in scaffolding at least six years ago – although estimates vary – due to remedial cladding work, following the Grenfell tragedy in 2017.
Dwayne Lewis, 50, said that despite the scaffolding, which had previously moved into the building in 2023, apart from some new mesh netting for the frame, “no work has been done for years”.
Residents have also repeatedly complained about disrepair, including leaks from vandalized skylights, long-term heating failures and security issues leading to burglaries. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) received two separate reports of people defecating in the stairwell of the building and outside its municipal bicycle area.
The owner, places for people, says it can not start work until it has received the approval of the Building Safety Regulator, and that this has seen delays due to factors it cannot control.
Speaking to LDRS, resident Natasha Dyett said she and her fellow residents were now “ready to fight the landlord” to force action.
Taxes have been around the block for over six years
LDRS
‘He watched me in bed’
The owners report that the stairs, along with other security flaws in the building, have led to it becoming a hotspot for anti-social behavior as burglars gained access to the communal bike room.
One night in July, Ms. Dyett said she woke up to see a man outside her window. “He was watching me while I was lying in my bed. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life,” she said. The motion sensor light and alarms, she added, were not triggered during the intrusion.
“The stairs have become a platform for people to enter the building,” said Mr. Lewis, who lives on the sixth floor.
Mr Lewis told the LDRS that he believes the building is being “managed in decline”, even as tenants like himself see their rents continue to rise every year.
“Post-Grenfell, surely the priority must be to change the dressing as soon as possible to an appropriate standard? It just drags on,” he said. The cost of keeping the taxes up is not determined by the owner. The resident claimed staff were blowing the £500,000-a-year figure.
Archway Heights previous owner, Origin Housing Ltd, was subsumed by Places for People after a two-year merger process, with the latter taking over the building in April 2026. Origin was downgraded by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in 2023, when the watchdog designated it as non-compliant.
Natasha Dyett said she and fellow tenants were now “ready to fight for the landlord” to force action.
LDRS
The tenant’s new owner said it expects a decision from the building safety regulator on the works in November, with remedial work estimated to take 12 months. The social enterprise gave its tenants twice-yearly goodwill payments while their building was being staked, with each property receiving £317.50 in October 2026.
“Places for people made a lot of promises to us, including to communicate better, and to give a monthly block update. They didn’t keep that promise,” Ms. Dyett claimed.
Although residents have secured some improvements around security, including new access controls, this has not allayed wider concerns about their block. Now they are fighting as part of the ACORN tenant union, knocking on neighbors’ doors throughout the building to get residents to sign up to “turn on” the landlord.
ACORN has organized meetings with residents and protests outside the landlord’s HQ elsewhere in the borough. The tenant’s union gave them a deadline of Thursday, October 15, to respond to their latest demands for repairs and safety inspections. LDRS understands the housing association has since responded.
An ACORN spokesman said: “Our members at Archway Heights have been left in unsafe conditions, have not received services they are paying for and have been left in the dark, quite literally, about what is actually being done to enable them to live dignified lives.”
A spokesman for Places for People said the building’s challenges were “complex, multi-faceted and will take time to resolve”, but accepted residents’ frustration.
“Many of these issues are beyond our control, but there are other things we could have done differently. The levy is a necessary safety measure to protect residents and the public during essential building safety updates. This work cannot begin until we receive approval from the Building Safety Regulator, which took much longer than we anticipated.
“These delays are nationwide and affect high-rise buildings throughout the country. Nevertheless, we have provided goodwill payments in recognition of the disruption. There is a program of regular inspections in place to ensure that the building meets fire safety standards,” said the spokesperson.
The housing association added that it had checked all heating failures, installed new entrance and lobby doors and improved access control, worked with local partners to tackle anti-social behaviour, and introduced temporary overnight security.
