Action by the Muirhouse branch of Living Rent has succeeded in forcing City of Edinburgh Council to repair two defective fire doors in the Oxcars Court high-rise. Only after Living Rent called the Fire Brigade, did online publicity and contacted councillors and managers did the Council finally act to secure residents’ safety.
The fire doors were missing panes of reinforced glass and thus there were substantial gaps in the doors – in one case nearly half the door! So, as fire doors, they were about as useful as the proverbial chocolate tea pot… In the event of a fire, smoke and flames would have gone straight through the empty gaps in the doors. Now the glass has been replaced (although on the 4th floor door a small partial gap in the wood still needs fixed).
The fire doors were broken from at least 27 April and so it took the Council at least three weeks to carry out this emergency repair. Putting residents’ safety at risk like this is not acceptable. Have City of Edinburgh Council forgotten the 72 lost lives at Grenfell Tower in London, caused by the criminal neglect of that local council?
This episode shows it is vital that tenants act to insist on safe and healthy housing, otherwise our landlords can get away with murder. Join Living Rent in forcing the City of Edinburgh Council to put proper systems in place so that emergency repairs are carried out immediately.
