live in a building under construction It can be an uncomfortable situation for neighbors, especially when the work goes on for months and the scaffolding prevents opening the windows or leaves the rooms with hardly any natural light. This is exactly what has happened to the residents of a block of flats in London, who have been living for more than six years surrounded by scaffolding for works that have not yet begun.
According to the report on the case published by Guardianit is a nine-story building located in north London that has been covered in scaffolding since March 2020. The residents have been waiting all this time for the exterior cladding to be replaced for safety reasons, but the work has not started and some homes have their windows practically covered by the metal structures.
In addition to the lack of light, residents say the scaffolding is causing safety problems, as some people use it to access the building’s windows and roof. Although the authorization to maintain the structure ended in August 2026, the neighbors discovered that it had been extended for another twelve months, with no date yet to begin work.
They have had almost no natural light and blocked windows for six years.
The problem began in March 2020, when scaffolding was installed around the building to carry out work to replace the exterior cladding for fire safety reasons. However, six years later, work has not yet begun and residents continue to live with the same structures in front of their windows.
From what some neighbors explained, there are rooms that barely receive light from the outside because the metal sheets cover a good part of the windows, while in other homes they cannot even open them because they are blocked by the scaffolding.
One of those affected is a 52-year-old woman who lives on the second floor with her teenage son. According to him, some rooms in his apartment are practically dark, especially the young man’s bedroom.
“It’s horrible, it’s like we live in the dark,” lamented the neighbor, who said that she spends so much time inside the house without natural light that, when she goes outside, the sun bothers her eyes.
Added to this are security problems. In fact, one of the neighbors said that one night she woke up and found a stranger next to the window of her bedroom, located on the second floor. Although she began to yell at him to leave, the man stood there looking at her.
Residents also reported that someone had managed to climb onto the roof and remove a skylight, which causes water to enter the building when it rains.
“It’s a real nightmare for them.”
One of the neighbors’ main complaints is that, after so many years, they still do not know when work will begin to remove the old cladding from the building.
As they explained, community fees and rents have continued to increase, despite the fact that they continue to live surrounded by scaffolding. Even a few months ago they thought that the works would finally begin when they saw several workers arrive, but they discovered that they had only come to change the protection nets, which had deteriorated over time.
Faced with this situation, neighbors began to organize with the Acorn community union to demand that the security alarms be repaired, the panels that cover the windows be removed and that they be informed when the work will begin.
In addition, they managed to increase the compensation of 250 pounds (about 300 euros) that they received every six months for the inconvenience, although the new amount has not been specified.
“It is a real nightmare for them; they have been abandoned to their fate for a long time,” said one of the union representatives.
For its part, the entity that manages the building explained that the works cannot begin until they receive authorization from the building safety regulatory body, which already rejected a first request in 2024 and continues to request additional documentation to process the second.
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Meanwhile, residents are still waiting for the work to begin and to remove the scaffolding that has been covering their homes for more than six years.