Hundreds 'effectively made homeless' overnight after 'catastrophe' on Liverpool estate

Hundreds of people have been left after two tower blocks in were deemed "unsafe". Cruel letters have been sent to 160 households at Willow Rise and Beech Rise telling them they will have to vacate their homes in just weeks, because of the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service's devastating conclusion.

They said the management's company had failed to complete essential repairs in the blocks, which house both 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. Heartbroken residents say the experience has been "very stressful".

According to the , 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.

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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.

One of these flats belongs to Arunee Leerasiri who has lived in Willow Rise for the last five years, but has found the last 12 months particularly difficult: "It's been stressful, very stressful. We've been living with an increasing sense of fear with no solutions or answers to our questions.

"I am beyond devastated. I work from home, I am now about to be homeless. I love my home I spent time and money to make it nice, and now it's being stripped away from me. It’s really unjust what’s happening to people."

The letter from Knowsley Council arrived on Tuesday morning 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, the MFRS confirmed these works had not been progressed and it has exhausted all other possibilities.

It means hundreds of residents are now at risk of homelessness with no certainty on where they will be living in the the next few weeks.

Responding to the letter from Knowsley Council, Mr Penfold-Ivany, who lives on floor 13 of Willow Rise, said: "It's awful but I'm not surprised because the buildings have gotten so bad that this was inevitable, but let's be clear, this should never have been allowed to happen.

"It is a catastrophic situation that has remained unresolved for weeks and months. Repairs have not been done and the lifts are not working and residents are left stranded - people who can't get up and down the stairs because of health issues.

"Right now, I don't know where I'm going to live, but before that, I don't know how I'm going to move - how can anyone move because the lifts don't work and there's lots of people's belongings here such as furniture.

"The thought of moving is very very stressful and could have a serious impact on people's health. We've been plunged into uncertainty and we're all effectively being made homeless."