Law firm seeks group litigation order in case against housing association
Law firm Hodge Jones & Allen has applied for a group litigation order against one of London’s largest social landlords.
The claim is for compensation against the Peabody Trust on behalf of residents of the Strawberry Vale estate in East Finchley.
It would allow a further 49 residents to join the five already bringing a claim for being left for several months without a gas supply for cooking and, in some cases, for heating and hot water.
Hodge Jones & Allen said that on 20 January the gas supply to some 240 homes was cut off because National Grid considered a faulty meter made it unsafe.
This left some residents without hot water or heating, while all 270 residents were forced to use costly electric cookers, which for many were unaffordable.
Hodge Jones & Allen said Peabody Trust agreed to reinstating the gas supply after it applied to the Central London County Court for an injunction on 19 February.
By May all residents were reconnected but many had run up considerable debts due to large electricity bills and in some cases for temporary accommodation.
The firm claimed that during the proceedings it had found that Peabody Trust had failed to follow gas supply regulations since 1998 when it took over the estate.
It had not obtained a Gas Safety Case in line with regulations, and when this was reported to the Health & Safety Executive in March, it issued Peabody with an improvement notice.
Hodge Jones & Allen partner Jayesh Kunwardia said: “Residents of the Strawberry Vale estate suffered major upset and upheaval as a result of the trust’s direct failure to reinstate the gas supply for so long.
“Not only did the Peabody Trust fail to provide a valid reason for the gas supply to hundreds of homes being switched off in the first place, it is now clear that there were historic breaches of Health & Safety Executive regulations by running the gas supply at this estate without the correct safety procedures in place.”
Strawberry Vale Residents Association chair Laurence Williamson said that at one point last winter the absence of a gas supply had led to “the Red Cross [coming] to the estate with hot meals for residents”.
A Peabody statement said: “Following a drop in gas pressure in January, the gas supply for cooking at Strawberry Vale was unfortunately cut off. Heating and hot water were unaffected for the vast majority of people.
“We proactively worked with interested parties, including the HSE, to restore the gas supply. No injunction was ever granted, or heard. We do not supply the gas used on the estate. Reconnection took some time, requiring access to each home in order to purge any air from the supply pipes.
“We acknowledge the significant inconvenience caused by the disruption in the supply of gas. In recognition of this, we made ex-gratia payments to residents and appointed a dedicated resident liaison officer to manage the reconnection process. We offered to mediate with those residents who are pursuing litigation but this has been declined. The matter will therefore be decided by the courts.”
Mark Smulian
