Residents at Mill View in Dingle face a huge bill to get the service back online
Mill View, Toxteth(Image: Andrew Teebay/Liverpool Echo)
Residents at a Liverpool tower block previously mired in controversy over foreign investments are now facing a battle to have lifts in their building fixed amid ongoing vandalism. Mill View Tower, in Dingle, has provided housing in L8 since the 1960s.
The 16-storey building, consisting of 64 flats, is a visual depiction of design dating back six decades. Its dark imposing cladding casts a long shadow over the skyline towards Liverpool city centre. Concerns were raised about conditions inside the block almost a decade ago according to Liverpool Council, with temperatures inside considered potentially a risk to tenants’ health. This led to a letting agent being convicted on 13 separate licensing charges in 2017.
Now those living at Mill View face fresh issues, with vital lifts at the site out of order owing to what the building management company describes as “misuse and vandalism”. In a bid to get the lifts fixed, fundraising efforts have been launched online by those living in the tired old block.
In an email sent to residents and seen by the LDRS, a representative from Clear Building Management, which has managed the building on behalf of leaseholder-controlled L8 Inc RTM Company since 2020, said there have been “numerous incidents of lift failure recently, primarily caused by deliberate vandalism, the most recent involved forcing the doors of the only working lift and causing significant damage to the floor lock”. As a result, the lift has been deemed unsafe and cannot be returned to service without “significant work and expenditure”.
It is understood around £10,000 of unbudgeted costs have been incurred for call outs and repairs in the first half of this year alone at Mill View. The email from Clear Building Management said residents needed to be consulted on “how the works can be funded” to repair the lifts.
In a GoFundMe launched online to generate cash for the works, one resident said the faulty lifts had left people “climbing up to 15 flights of stairs every day because there’s no enforcement, no accountability, and no urgency to fix what’s broken”. In a statement to the ECHO, Clear Building Management acknowledged it faced “ongoing challenges” to repair the lifts.
A spokesperson said: “We fully understand how distressing and frustrating this situation is for residents.
“Having both lifts out of service in a high-rise building is not acceptable and we are doing everything we can to support the RTM board in finding a sustainable and timely solution.”
The lifts were last refurbished in 2012 and the Clear Building Management spokesperson said despite regular servicing, repairs, and statutory inspections, recent assessments by specialist engineers concluded the lifts can no longer be safely operated without full refurbishment.
The statement added: “Clear Building Management and the RTM board are now actively exploring funding options to enable the necessary lift refurbishment.
“A formal Section 20 consultation will be launched in line with the Landlord and Tenant Act to ensure full transparency and resident involvement in the process. We are committed to restoring lift service as quickly as possible.
“Our focus is on delivering a long-term solution that improves reliability and safety for everyone living at Mill View.” The company said a key challenge has been the financial strain caused by several leaseholders – many of whom are overseas investors – falling into long-term arrears on service charge payments.
Clear Building Management said while residents continue to pay rent, the building’s maintenance fund has been “significantly impacted”.
The spokesperson said legal efforts to recover these debts have been delayed by backlogs in the court system, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic.