People face losing their homes and their life savings amid growing crisis at Kirkby tower blocks
Hossein Heravi outside Beech Rise in Kirkby(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A man traumatised after witnessing the horrific incident at LFC’s title parade woke up the next day to find out he was being made homeless.
Hossein Heravi’s is one of many distressing stories coming out of a Kirkby housing estate where hundreds of people are being made homeless after two tower blocks were declared ‘unsafe’ by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS).
Hossein, 63, has lived in flat 50 Beech Rise for the last three years and invested his life savings to buy the flat’s leasehold, spending more money on decorations and furniture.
Hossein moved up to Liverpool from London and has fallen in love with the city, counting himself extremely lucky to live in such a friendly place and is full of praise for Kirkby. However, the latest update about the future of Beech Rise has plunged him into crisis – and at the worst possible time.
Hossein said: “I was one of the people at the Liverpool FC champions parade and was pretty close to what happened and saw everything. It was just awful and like so many others I was in a state of complete shock.”
He is referring to the tragic events in Liverpool city centre on Monday, May 26 during the parade celebrations. A total of 79 pedestrians, ranging from four children aged as young as nine to a 78-year-old casualty, were injured after a car struck people on Water Street shortly after 6pm, with 50 requiring hospital treatment.
Hossein Heravi outside Beech Rise in Kirkby(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Hossein said he returned home in a daze that evening and struggled to sleep, adding: “When I got up the next morning, I received a letter telling me I was going to be homeless and was about to lose my life savings”
The Liverpool ECHO has seen a Knowsley Council letter sent to 160 households at Willow Rise and Beech Rise confirming they will have to permanently vacate their homes in a matter of weeks. The local authority explained MFRS has been forced to serve a prohibition notice due to the management company’s failure to complete essential repairs.
Hossein said: “I’ve worked all my life to save up for this place and now they’re saying I have to move out. I’m not ashamed to say that I can’t stop crying and I just feel helpless – I don’t know what we’re going to do.
“I work from home so it’s looking like I’ll have nowhere to live and nowhere to work so I might even lose my job.”
Guidance and support has been offered by Knowsley Council, but Hossein said there’s been no definite information on what will happen to leaseholders.
Some leaseholders in both Willow Rise and Beech Rise have paid off their mortgages whilst some are still paying them off. Nonetheless, both groups now face the prospect of losing their life savings and their home without any confirmation on whether they will be compensated and what the terms of the rehoming process would be.
The tower blocks are located on Roughwood Drive in Kirkby and have hundreds of residents – both rented tenants and leaseholders. The buildings are owned by TR Marketing Ltd and the headlessor of both Willow Rise and Beech Rise is Rockwell (FC100) Limited.
The leaseholders elect a board who then contract a management company to take care of health and safety issues, general maintenance and service charges. Dempster Management Services Limited (DMS) took on this contract after reaching an agreement with the board, Parklands Management Company Ltd, in 2023.
At the start of May, Dempster informed all residents and leaseholders it had decided to terminate its contract with Beech Rise and Willow Rise, effective immediately. It means residents have been living without a management company.
Two weeks after Dempster ended its association, residents received a letter from Knowsley Council on Tuesday morning May 27 and was followed by a statement published on its website, stating: “Earlier this month, the Council and MFRS became aware that the current management company no longer intends to carry out the remedial works that are needed to the buildings.
“Lifts in both buildings were out of order, and the lack of funding would mean that they would not be repaired. In addition, the current management company would no longer be in a position to fund the waking watch from 21 May 2025.”
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) said it had worked with successive management companies to ensure fire safety obligations were being met and issued enforcement notices demanding remediation works be carried out. However, a MFRS spokesperson said these works had not been progressed a prohibition notice would be served and residents must leave immediately.
MRFS added: “This means the buildings will no longer be safe for residents to live in after the current waking watch ends.”
Willow Rise resident Christopher Penfold Ivany has to struggle up the stairs because of the broken lifts(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
‘Waking watch’ involves 24/7 monitoring recommended by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) where trained personnel patrol a building to detect fire and manage evacuation. This service was paid for via Dempster but funds expired earlier this month and without it, both tower blocks cannot meet their fire safety obligations.
Responding to the circumstances leading up to the current crisis, Parklands Kirkby Management Company told the ECHO: “The residents have every right to be furious, we share that feeling. We volunteered to be directors of the Management Company in late 2023, following years’ worth of neglect and repeated failings.
“When we became directors there was unfortunately no funds left and a substantial amount of money (£700,000) owed by way of service charges and hundreds of thousands of pounds owed to creditors. We were left with an impossible situation and amounting legacy issues.”
The ECHO first reported on problems at these tower blocks last year when residents came forward to complain about the conditions. One article detailed the plight of Kathleen Rosenthal, 68, who felt ‘trapped’ in her home because of the broken down lifts.
The ECHO also highlighted the plight of Joe, who said he was forced out of his Willow Rise flat due to major leaks in the block resulting in his electricity being cut off, adding at the time: “This has caused immense stress and anxiety, as I’ve lost the safety and stability of my home.”
The ongoing crisis has now resulted in a prohibition notice and means hundreds of people will be made homeless in the next few weeks. The ECHO further reported on the plight of rented tenants earlier this week, but the leaseholders also face a unique and difficult problem.
David Hemmings, 72, is a leaseholder at Willow Rise and lives on the fourth floor. David has only been back home for three weeks after he was forced out of his flat in November when his electricity was turned off due to major water damage stemming from the ongoing leaks in the building.
David said: “The electricity problem isn’t fixed by the way, it’s just that the money paying for my alternative accommodation ran out from the pot so I have had to come back.
Broken lift at Willow Rise pictured last year(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
“Now I’ve received a letter telling me I have to leave soon and I don’t know where I’m going to go and what will happen to all the money I put into the flat.
“I used my pension to get this place and the service charges have been astronomical so I don’t know how its run out of money, but it looks like I’m about to lose everything.
“I’m in my seventies, worked all my life, I haven’t got the energy to be dealing with all of this and honestly, I don’t know what to do.”
Knowsley MP Anneliese Midgley said her office has been inundated with enquires about the situation at Beech and Willow Rise tower blocks. Ms Midgley confirmed her office is exploring all possible options and has raised her concerns with officials in the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Minister.
Ms Midgley added: “The situation facing leaseholders at Beech and Willow Rise is absolutely heartbreaking. Some have mortgages they’re still paying; others have already paid them off — but all are now staring down the barrel of losing not only their home, but their life savings too. These are people who did the right thing, bought their homes in good faith, and are now being let down by a broken system.
“I want to be clear that we are discussing leaseholders’ futures — both in my office and with Knowsley Council — even though these buildings are privately owned and this is a legally complex area. There is no clear blueprint for what happens next, but that does not mean leaseholders are being forgotten. Quite the opposite.
“I will keep fighting to ensure that residents — whether tenants or leaseholders — are not left alone to bear the cost of others’ failings. No one should have to pay for the consequences of mismanagement, neglect and regulatory failure.”
Knowsley Council are also working closely with residents and will be support them to find new housing and have offered advice and guidance services to everyone effected, regardless of tenure. A spokesperson for Knowsley Council said: “We are also running a series of ‘community surgeries’ at Centre 63 in the coming days, where the council and partner agencies will be on hand to offer advice and information.
“The feedback from attendees has so far been very positive, so we would urge any residents who haven’t yet attended to come along and talk to us.”
All details of support and further information can be found on Knowsley Council’s website HERE.
The ECHO offered Dempster the opportunity to comment further on this situation.