Kensington and Chelsea Council said the issue wasn’t immediately flagged with contractors because systems had to be shut down following a cyber attack in late November
Laura said this is the worst lift breakdown Longlands Court residents have experienced(Image: Adrian Zorzut/Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Residents in a Notting Hill block say their only lift has been broken for four weeks, with one person saying they had to “crawl” down stairs to get to an appointment.
Longlands Court residents said the lift hasn’t worked since November 20 and is causing them distress. One of them, Laura, has lived on the fourth floor of the estate for nine years and said she has been trapped inside the lift twice.
The 58-year-old, who has back problems, said using the stairs has become a “nightmare”. She can’t carry heavy shopping bags up to her flat so is left having to take multiple trips up and down the stairs, often in pain.
Longlands Court has been without a functioning lift for more than three weeks(Image: Google)
She said: “It’s terrible. I’m in so much pain going up and down the stairs. I have to take painkillers,” which she explained made her sick. She said this has been the worst lift breakdown she has experienced since living in the block.
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said the block is full of residents with health issues who are dependent on a functioning lift. The resident, who has a disability, said she has had to crawl down the stairwell before, from her flat on the upper levels. She said: “I find I shake when I try going up the stairs.”
She said Kensington and Chelsea Council did not carry out checks on residents or tell them helpers had been hired to support residents going up and down the stairs. They said for many residents life has been “put on hold” while repairs take place. Another called the council “useless” and said suggested it was unfair the council continued to levy a service charge while the lift was broken.
Lydia Liao, 32, said it’s been a challenge moving her baby stroller down the stairs. She lives on the second floor with her four-month-old.
Kezia Bottargo, 40, moved from her “ideal home” to Longlands Court 12 months ago because it had a working lift. She said the move was a “compromise” because she was diagnosed with a heart condition which meant she cannot carry heavy things up stairs.
She said some supermarkets don’t deliver food to a block that does not have a functioning lift and now has to walk 15 minutes to the nearest one. She said she can only buy a few items at a time because she simply can’t carry much.
‘A fault with the drive mechanism’
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited the block on Friday, December 5, and found a notice stuck to the lift’s doors saying it was down “due to a fault with the drive mechanism”.
It also saw council-hired helpers stationed at the bottom of the lift to support residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. According to Kensington and Chelsea Council, where a block is without a working lift, staff will now be onsite 24/7 to help residents to and from their homes, and carry bags and shopping.
The council said it’s waiting for a part to come in and expects the lift to be repaired by this Thursday (December 18).
The LDRS also recently visited Trellick Tower where residents say lifts remain broken for months at a time. The tower is said to have some of the most used lifts, with some making 1,000 trips a day.
The lift broke down in late November(Image: Adrian Zorzut/Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Residents say there simply aren’t enough lifts to cater for the hundreds of people living in the 31-storey block in Kensal Town. Colin Jean-Baptiste, 53, a life-long Trellick Tower resident, said the estate’s three lifts are “overworked” and take weeks to repair because parts have to be ordered from overseas, a common problem found across London by the LDRS and MyLondon during a joint investigation into lift failures.
Lift ‘not raised’ due to a cyber attack
According to Kensington and Chelsea Council, the broken lift at Longlands Court was not raised with contractors until the start of the week commencing November 24. The council said was because many of its system had to be turned off following a cyber attack.
The council said a technician visited on December 7 and recommended a new part be ordered from an external supplier. In a statement, Dan Hawthorn, Executive Director of Housing and Social Investment, said: “I’m sorry about the problems with the lifts; it’s incredibly frustrating when they break down, and to ensure lifts are reliable is essential.
“We’ve reviewed our lift breakdown procedure to put residents’ needs first. Where a block is completely without a working lift, we make sure staff are available 24/7 to help residents to and from their homes and carry shopping and bags. We are also working with our contractor to improve the way jobs are booked, ensuring emergency work like a job at Trellick can be completed quicker.”
Join MyLondon’s call for legislation for lift repairs
MyLondon has been investigating the city’s housing crisis throughout 2025 and one of the key issues we have looked at is lift breakdowns. We visited 21 separate blocks with broken lifts in 12 months and interviewed hundreds of residents to highlight how the issue is trapping less mobile people in their homes for weeks at a time.
MyLondon is calling for specific legislation to force landlords to repair lifts in a set timeframe – for instance 48 hours – because of the health and safety impacts of the outages. Our calls are backed by several London MPs and Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan.
You can join our calls by contacting your local MP to ask them to raise it in the House of Commons.
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