A council has served improvement notices on a number of properties owned by the Salvation Army and let to private tenants in the town of Hadleigh, Essex, where the charity was founded in the late 19th century.
A probe undertaken jointly by ITV News and The Guardian newspaper claims that the Christmas charity ignored repeated requests to improve conditions for the tenants.
Tenants have complained of being subjected to years of living with hazards including fire risks, damp, and vermin infestations.
The Salvation Army has now issued an unreserved apology and says it has now begun the process of surveying the properties and renovating vacant homes as part of an urgent action plan.
The Guardian states: “Tenants say the problems with the properties were first documented in late 2014. Later, in 2018, the charity left up to 40 tenants with the impression they were about to be evicted, instead of paying to correct the problems.
“In 2019, a local environmental health officer at Castle Point council wrote to the Salvation Army and described the charity’s handling of the situation in Hadleigh as a ‘sordid mess’. The letter said he had identified ‘significant housing disrepair in Salvation Army properties’ in the borough including ‘category one and two hazards’.”
The charity owns some 40 homes in the town; last year it announced it was constructing a new headquarters for itself at the cost of £32m.
The Guardian continues: “The length of time the Salvation Army failed to deal with the complaints raises serious questions about the governance and conduct of one of the UK’s highest profile charities. The Salvation Army receives donations and legacies from the public of more than £100m a year and owns more than 1,700 residential properties, the majority of which are used by its own officers.”
Want to comment on this story? Our focus is on providing a platform for you to share your insights and views and we welcome contributions.
If any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.
Please help us by reporting comments you consider to be unduly offensive so we can review and take action if necessary. Thank you.
.jpg)
%20(002).png)
.png)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
The Sally Army is more akin to a local housing association than a PRS landlord.
This story proves it!
Agreed, and I expect most, if not all their tenants come under the heading of ''vulnerable'' just the kind of tenants we don't want at any money
... and who's going to serve Improvement Notices on Local Authorities regarding their properties ?
I wonder if they will need a minimum of a C on the EPC scale……. I can bet the answer is no.
Now that's a very interesting point Simon, I wonder !
Please login to comment