'DO NOT IGNORE THIS EMAIL' — why do Toxteth’s rent-paying tenants keep getting eviction threats?
Plus: The Rector of Liverpool leaves his post citing 'institutional homophobia'
Dear readers — what an amazing response to Jeff Young’s weekend piece, reflecting on his friendship with indie music legend Paul Simpson and the scene from which they both emerged in the 70s and 80s.
“I was there in the late 70’s and early 80's. It was truly an amazing time and only now looking back do I realise how lucky I was to have been there,” wrote Carolyn. “Thank you Post for a brilliant start to my day.” “What a fabulous — and very moving — piece,” said Fiona, adding that she was heading straight out to buy Simpson’s new book (as can you here). Mick simply wrote: “wonderful, wonderful, wonderful”.
If you missed that piece on Saturday, rectify that mistake immediately and give it a read.
'It comes from the underground republic of dives and disobedience'
But we can only bask in past glories for so long. On with today’s edition, which features something for everyone. Our Big Story today covers the beleaguered residents of Parliament Place who are left in fear of eviction after finding letters taped to their doors (not for the first time either). We’ve also got fascinating insights into municipal politics from the mind of Rickie Lambert in our news briefing (this is a joke: we haven’t lost the plot), the aromas of Anatolia in our weekly to do list and a one bedroom flat with a very colourful kitchen tile scheme as your Home of the Week.
Editor’s note: Behind the scenes at Post HQ we’ve been slaving away at some real big hitters which we’re excited to bring you in the coming weeks and months. These projects take time, effort and — crucially — money. We’re almost entirely reader-funded, which is why we can spend significant lengths of time on individual stories rather than needed to maximise ad revenue by churning out clickbait filler. If you value what we do, please join today.
A story of love, political intrigue and revenge
From today’s sponsor: Abductions, murders in the palace and a plot to overthrow the aristocracy: Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra is an opera built around intrigue and revenge. On Thursday 18 April, you can watch a concert performance of this classical favourite in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall at a special discounted price. World-class orchestra The Hallé will be teaming up with Opera Rara and the Chorus of Opera North under the direction of the legendary Sir Mark Elder, providing one of the final chances to see Elder in action before he steps down as Music Director after 24 years. Click here to get your tickets, and make sure to enter themill18 in the promo code box to get 25% off.
Your Post briefing
The Rector of Liverpool, Revd Canon Dr Crispin Pailing, has quit his post after a decade citing “institutional validation of homophobic and misogynistic views in the Church.” Pailing has previously urged the church to treat same-sex marriage as equal to heterosexual marriage, and also cited his frustration at its “obvious and lamentable failure of safeguarding”, which he sees as “an abuse and a further assault on the image of God.” He is leaving for a new role in the charity sector. Read more here.
Planning permission to build private homes on the site of the Eldonian Village in Vauxhall has been granted following an appeal. The land where the homes will be built was once the site of a community-owned sports centre, until (as we have reported extensively in the past) it was flogged to a company based in the British Virgin Islands with an unknown directorship. A local developer — Kersh Worral Commercial — will build the new homes. The local community is understandably aghast at the development, especially with government-led investigations still ongoing into the sales of their land. The climate of fear and intimidation in the village remains.
There was a timely intervention for one of the region’s foremost political thinkers over the weekend. Former Liverpool striker turned truth-seeker Rickie Lambert called for candidates at Liverpool’s local council elections in May to challenge the narrative being pushed by the World Economic Forum. Seeing as there are no Liverpool City Council elections this year, and — as the Liverpool Community Independents pointed out — the WEF is based in Geneva, which falls outside of Liverpool’s ward boundaries, it’s hard to know exactly what Lambert was getting at. Nonetheless, the Tweet has since been deleted.
And finally, former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson described fulfilling his dream of managing Liverpool on Saturday as “absolutely beautiful”. Erikson revealed his terminal cancer diagnosis in January, and as a lifelong Red it was arranged for him to take the reigns of a Liverpool Legends team against Ajax, with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres featuring. “To sit on the bench for Liverpool, that's been my dream my whole life. Now it happened, and it was a beautiful day in all meanings,” Eriksson said.
The big story: ‘Unethical’ eviction threat at Toxteth flats after residents find letters taped to their doors
Top line: It’s been a rough few years for the residents of Parliament Place in Toxteth. After being hit last year with a suspected illegal eviction attempt, they’re now in fear of losing their homes again after a bizarre notice threatening possible eviction was taped to their front doors.
Background: Last year people living in Parliament Place in Toxteth were left in a state of panic. Notices were plastered to internal doors of the 116-room block telling them they would have to leave the building within just a few weeks due to “urgent” fire safety works. But these apparently urgent works turned out to be a decoy.
Management company Urban Evolution, which also sent copies of the notice by email to tenants, said at the time it was passing it on from the offshore company that owned the land, Collateral Investments Ltd, which had changed its name to Schloss Roxburghe, to make tenants aware.
Isle of Man-based Collateral Investments, which is owned by a trust whose ultimate ownership is obscured, acquired the freehold of the block in 2022 from a company owned by developer Elliot Lawless.
Lawless’ Parliament Place Ltd built the flats and had by then gone into administration.
Behind the scenes: When people living in the block sounded the alarm last year, local MP Kim Johnson intervened, contacting Liverpool Council who said they were investigating the notices as an illegal eviction attempt. It turned out, despite the fire safety claims, that Collateral had been negotiating behind the scenes over a potential deal with the Home Office for use of the building. That proved unsuccessful and shortly after, Urban Evolution confirmed the notice had been rescinded.
Problem solved, thought the residents. Then it happened again last week. With a red printed stamp stating “urgent” emblazoned on the top, a new letter received by several tenants on Thursday threatens possible eviction over unpaid service charges Urban Evolution says their landlords owe for the building’s upkeep.
It states immediate action is required to “avoid eviction”, claiming court proceedings to gain right of entry or to make the landlords forfeit their lease could be started within seven days.
Bizarrely, the printed letter continues, with bold red capitals:
“Do not ignore this email we have proof of postage and it may be used in a court of law as evidence!”
Alarm: One resident, who has asked not to be named, has lived in the block for several years, and came home from work to the letter on his door. He told The Post he was shocked to yet again be told his tenancy is at risk, adding it is having a negative effect on his mental health.
Another tenant described the notice — in particular the apparent confusion as to whether it is a letter or an email — as “very unprofessional”.
One questioned whether this was an ill-thought out premature April Fool’s joke, adding, “if it is, after last year, it’s clearly not funny”.
Once again, MP Kim Johnson is getting involved. Johnson told the Post she does “not believe it is legal”.
Urban Evolution told the Post they had only attached the notice to the front doors of nine apartments and were doing so in a bid to collect service charge arrears.
This is part of a “legal” process of serving notice of their intentions, CEO of Urban Evolution Ross Spencer says, after failing to successfully contact the leaseholders by other means.
He claims the notices are a form of “deemed service” to satisfy the courts they had made attempts at notifying leaseholders of the debt.
Johnson said this kind of “unethical pressure” is exactly why private sector housing reform is needed as tenants are left facing unfair “insecurity” in their homes.
One leaseholder told the Post some had been recently approached by a third party saying investors — who they wouldn’t name — wanted to buy multiple units in the block. They told me they fear these letters are part of a pattern of actions ultimately aimed at encouraging tenants out of the building. Others have noticed that, when negotiating over rent, Urban Evolution have been quick to suggest they just leave if they’re not happy. “It feels like they just want us out,” one tenant said.
Spencer said we’d been misled about all that and the company was merely trying to get the cash they were owed. He said the tactic of contacting tenants about their landlords’ arrears had so far been pretty fruitful for the company as they have now “recovered significant amounts” since sticking the notices on people’s doors.
Post Picks
🇹🇷 Anatolian aromas are on the menu this weekend in Brougham terrace as the Quilliam Bazaar opens its doors, promising to transport visitors to the markets of Istanbul. More details here.
🗣️ Take a walk through the notorious tenements of Scottie Road tomorrow night with local author Gerry Potter as he discusses his memoir 6A Blackstock Gardens. Tickets here.
🎥 When AI meets architecture, the end result is Steven Spielberg — at least this Tuesday at FACT anyway, where the Liverpool Architectural Society is hosting a screening of A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Details here.
🎶 If art pop storytelling and bold political statements are your thing, head to the Jacaranda this Thursday for Tories Can’t Dance — an evening of cassette machines, field recordings and ambient guitars in aid of Golden Gloves Boxing club. Intrigued? More info here.
Home of the week
Stained glass front doors and kitchen tiles with more colours than a packet of Skittles are all the rage in Aigburth (just a stone’s throw from the Sunday Times-approved best place to live in Merseyside, Sefton Park, no less). This Edwardian Grade II-listed bedroom flat with a spacious communal garden is going for £140,000.
Recommended reads
The Guardian meets the woman using a repurposed ice cream van as her battlebus for an anti hunger crusade. When Michelle Roach’s son was only seven she found herself diagnosed with cancer, unemployed and unable to afford to eat. Her mission is that no one else ends up in the same situation.
And another story about repurposed vans (all the best stories are, obviously) in the Sunday Times from December — looking at the undercover police officers posing as delivery drivers in order to catch thieves. Well worth a read.
Looks like Elliot Lawless strikes again. Those letters put me in mind of a parking company who tried to do me for illegal parking when I hadn’t. Their letter was titled ‘The High Court of London Limited’. Hysterical. It’s clearly illegal the way they’ve gone about it. But obviously some other money making scheme is in the works and as usual the tenants will lose out.
With regards to the Eldonian issue again it’s clear money talks. With the new stadium a stones throw away. they’ll be able to sell the new houses at a much more inflated price. I wonder whose pockets the profits will end up in.
Lots of lawless behaviour uncovered in this alarming story. In this country we now have four times as many landlords as we have teachers. Many of them tax avoiders (translation? probably libellous). The slurry tank uncorked by Thatcher (Right to Buy - translation? right to cause eye-watering homelessness and council bankruptcy) continues to pour sewage over our common weal and the lives of ordinary people. And Labour's espousal of 'fiscal probity' and other bollix (not to mention genocide) will see no rectification. There is a solution but it's not suitable for a family audience and contains scenes which some readers may find upsetting.