Salvation Army labelled rogue landlord after years of neglect

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The Salvation Army has been slammed for allowing some of its private residential tenants to live in substandard accommodation.

Properties in Hadleigh, Essex, were found to be riddled with damp and mould while some had vermin infestations or breached fire-safety regulations, leaving renters exposed to serious hazards for at least seven years.

Unreserved apology

An investigation by the Guardian and ITV News found that the Christian organisation ignored repeated requests to improve conditions from its tenants. It has now issued an unreserved apology and says it has begun surveying the properties and renovating vacant homes as part of an urgent action plan.

Problems were first documented in late 2014, then in 2018 the charity left up to 40 tenants with the impression they were about to be evicted, instead of paying to correct the problems. In 2019, a local environmental health officer at Castle Point council wrote to the Salvation Army and described the charity’s handling of the situation in Hadleigh as a “sordid mess” and served improvement notices on a number of its properties.

Long-standing tenant

Peggy Jane Smith, a Salvation Army tenant in Hadleigh for 38 years, whose property was found to be a fire risk, labelled its behaviour that of a rogue landlord. She said: “It’s very hard to try and tell people that because it’s not what people want to believe, but the unfortunate thing about the Salvation Army is, on the one side they have their spiritual side, but on the other side they’re behaving like hard-nose, unscrupulous, capitalists.”

Anthony Cotterill, the charity’s territorial commander, admitted that the condition of the houses was unacceptable. He added: “It is clear that we let down the tenants of Seaview Terrace and Mount Zion and I am deeply sorry. As well as an unreserved apology, I would like to offer reassurance that for some months now we have been working on an urgent action plan to bring these properties up to the correct standard.”

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