Londoners are being trapped in their own homes, sometimes for months at a time, because of widespread lift failures in the city’s blocks of flats.
Often dealt with as isolated issues in individual blocks, a joint investigation between MyLondon and the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has uncovered how the problem is systemic, with fixes taking days, weeks, or even months often due to parts being unavailable.
Our reporters have visited dozens of tower blocks and medium rise buildings in the past 12 months and found 21 of them with lifts either broken on the day of our visit, or suffering persistent failures over many weeks and months. The vast majority of the blocks we visited contain social housing, often accommodating some of London’s most vulnerable residents.
Now deceased, D-Day veteran Percy Chafer, aged 104, spent the last months of his long life battling lift failures that trapped him in his Pimlico home, while disabled Army veteran Hilary Hepburn spent months stranded inside her flat in Hounslow.
Scores of other people with mobility issues, children and heavy bags feel like they can’t live a normal life because getting back up several flights of stairs is too daunting. An Outstanding rated childminder in Islington also told the LDRS it’s starting to affect her business.
One terrified woman was in a lift when it dropped two floors, causing her to think she was going to die. Others have been trapped in lifts when they fail, with London Fire Brigade being called out to rescue some of them.
Analysis of the reasons landlords have given for the lift failures has revealed widespread problems with sourcing parts as well as ageing units that need replacing.
A court case last week showed how serious the consequences can be, of lifts not being properly maintained. Kai Lewis was almost cut in half as he tried to escape a faulty lift at flats in Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green in 2023. A developer has been fined £40,000 for its part in the failings.
The below case studies, so far unreported, are buildings we have visited in the past few weeks.
Trapped in their home for 2 weeks
Rahma Yermak has just spent the first hour outside of her London flat in two weeks. Driven ‘crazy’ by her mum who suffers dementia, the 63-year-old’s sister has now been able to take on caring responsibilities.
Her daughter, Mariam, is in high spirits. She has Downs syndrome, so after frustrating hours staring out the window she’s finally able to join her mum on a weekly shop. “A wonderful mum and daughter day,” Mariam described it, unable to hide her smile.
But after feeling the relief and freedom of simply visiting Sainsbury’s, Rahma realised she bought too many things upon returning home. Without a helpful neighbour stepping in, the pair would have been forced to lug the heavy bag up half a dozen flights of stairs.
The lift in Express Wharf on the Isle of Dogs has been broken for the past seven weeks. Rahma usually looks after her mum every other day, but has taken on full care duties for two weeks while her sister has been away.
“I didn’t sleep last night,” she said. “It’s been so tough. My mum doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know I’m her daughter. This isn’t her home.”
Rahma adds that if the lift was working she could have taken her mum downstairs in the wheelchair to get a coffee. This would have also made Mariam less restless, and given herself some respite from the stress of her responsibilities.
Residents of Express Wharf have spent hours on the phone to Sanctuary housing association to complain about the outage, but say they keep getting palmed off. The provider tells residents the lifts will be fixed, but often declines to provide a timeframe, they claim.
In 2023 the main lift was out of action for eight months of the year, while both have been down at the same time on multiple occasions since, according to residents.
A Sanctuary spokesperson said of the latest breakdown, that it’s “sorry for the disruption and inconvenience” the “intermittent issue” is causing people. They said it is “proving a complex repair” for the specialist contractor to resolve but added: “We’re committed to bringing the lift back into service as quickly as possible and will continue to ensure our customers are updated on our progress.”
However Rahma claims: “We’ve been imprisoned for the past two weeks, and nothing is being done to fix the problem.”
At this point a congregation forms on the stairway of the third floor where Rahma lives; residents are desperate to share their stories.
Dolly Shah, 44, quips she’s been stuck in the lift three times in the past year. Sarah Lyons, 44, says she’s been unable to leave her flat due to her arthritis and fibromyalgia.
Barbara Ellis, 58, says swapping her former Limehouse flat for this has been one of her life’s biggest regrets.
As neighbours continue to vent their anger at Sanctuary, Sharmin Khan is carrying her one-year-old daughter up the stairs. She pauses, legs wobbling, before re-adjusting her grip on Janifa who’s sleeping on her shoulder.
“It’s very hard,” she says. Sweat is now running down her forehead as she stops in the poorly ventilated hallway made humid by the intense July heat.
The care home worker says she’s forced to make this trip with her four children multiple times every day due to the lift being out of action. This will even include carrying a 20kg bag of rice up to their seventh floor flat every week to feed her large family.
“Me and my husband are so stressed when the lift isn’t working,” she tells our reporter. “When we’ve been to the shop or market it’s awful. I feel so guilty when my children want to play in the park as I simply don’t have the energy.
“The lift was broken for months throughout my pregnancy in 2023, which made me really worried about the baby.”
Some residents have resorted to no longer paying the £151 monthly service charge. An exasperated Pam Benjamin claims Sanctuary is “taking the p*** out of us”, and says nowhere near enough effort is made to keep residents informed throughout the outages.
The 53-year-old adds: “They always say they’re waiting on a part from Germany. It’s surely a cheaper option to just replace the lifts instead of constantly paying for new parts.”
Sanctuary took over management of the building in summer 2023 from Swan housing association which faced closure.
Firefighters rescued delivery driver stuck for an hour
Gilbert House is a medium rise building on Pimlico’s Churchill Gardens Estate. While its nine storeys may not represent one of London’s most daunting climbs when its two lifts break down, for the elderly, disabled and otherwise less mobile, it can mean missed appointments and no social life.
There was no functioning lift for two weeks in June as the city baked in record heat. Gilbert House residents claim every summer the metal doors expand in the heat and this causes a breakdown, though the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands the council and its contractor did not find the recent issues were linked to heat.
The block has one lift at either end but they don’t serve every floor on their own. So some floors become cut off for those with limited mobility if even one lift breaks.
SJ Lee, a leaseholder for more than nine years, said when the lifts are out of service elderly residents have missed doctor appointments and can no longer receive food deliveries.
Westminster City Council told SJ the lift experienced a sensor issue and it no longer had parts in stock. But SJ said the lifts break down so often the council’s contractors should know better and be stocked and prepared.
The 41-year-old, who lives on the seventh floor, stopped receiving deliveries in June and had to lug her three dogs up and down the stairs in the baking heat. She said she spoke with housing officers “every day” and advised them to put up signs.
She said: “I would tell them that if something happens, like an old lady falls down the stairs trying to carry their shopping, it’s on them. They’d say they hope that doesn’t happen. But that’s what they said about Grenfell.”
While the two lifts are now working again, SJ said since the repairs, the one she uses makes a scratching sound – something the LDRS noticed during our visit in July.
Phyllis – not her real name – relied on her husband to carry her up seven flights of stairs during the outages because of her disability. She said dealing with the council has been “so exhausting”.
She said: “One department doesn’t speak to the other department and so on. I’m so tired of it that it gives me a headache.”
The LDRS was told of a delivery driver stuck in a lift for about an hour and elderly residents scaling multiple flights of stairs to do their daily food shop. London Fire Brigade attended to release the trapped worker.
A Westminster City Council spokesperson said: “The council is aware that there have been issues with the lift in Gilbert House and understand that this is frustrating for residents. We take all residents’ complaints seriously whether they are from tenants or our leaseholders.”
According to the council, it holds various parts for lift repairs most common to failure but sometimes there will be parts it does not hold in stock.
‘I couldn’t stay in my flat for a week’
In the 22-storey tower block known as Sporle Court, both lifts are being replaced by Wandsworth Council after persistent issues either trapped people inside their homes, or stopped them being able to get back in.
The block on the Winstanley and York Road Estate, in Battersea, has already had one of the units replaced, but residents claim the replacement broke down within days. This new lift remained out of service for two days, while the other was shut for its replacement to be installed – work that will conclude in October.
Among the disabled residents in the block, which stands at 72 metres tall, is Peter Kyrou, 68, who lives on the 19th floor. Peter had two strokes 14 years ago which left him with limited mobility, meaning he can’t use stairs.
Peter’s partner Doreen Kyrou, 66, said he was forced to miss a doctor’s appointment when the block’s new lift broke down. Outlining the impact of the long-running problems, she said: “I’ve been out shopping, I’ve come downstairs, I’ve come up – no lift. It’s literally just like that, it goes just like that.”
She added: “When we had no lift, I had someone else helping with sitting with him, while I go out and do what I’ve got to do. Otherwise I’ve got to take him, but I can’t take him if there’s no lift.”
Wandsworth Council has apologised for the “distress and hardship” caused by the breakdowns. A spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Unfortunately, the recent issues stemmed from a complex and persistent fault which took time to rectify. The lifts continue to be closely monitored by both our contractor and council teams.”
Mum-of-two Elizabeth Swanson, 30, told the LDRS she has been fighting to be moved for years as the flat is unsuitable for her autistic daughter’s medical needs. They live on the top floor and her daughter will not walk up the stairs. The family had to stay at a friend’s home in Tooting when both lifts were out of action for a week.
Elizabeth said: “I was like, what am I supposed to do, just stay on the street? All her medication is up there, she needs her medication, what am I supposed to do?”
She added: “A whole week I was basically stuck. I couldn’t stay in my property for a whole week because there was no lift.”
The mum raised concerns for her elderly neighbours also living on the block’s upper floors. She said: “I feel sorry for them because they live on the 21st floor and they’re like 70 years, 80 years of age.”
The council spokesperson added: “In situations where a building is left without a lift service, text notifications and letters are sent to residents to keep them updated. If any residents require assistance, they can contact the Joint Control Centre (JCC) 24 hours a day and mobile Estates Service are on hand around the clock.”
Housing blocks with broken lifts we’ve visited in 12 months
Below is a list of buildings our reporters have visited in the past 12 months where lift breakdowns have caused residents problems accessing or leaving their homes:
- Parkinson House, Lillington and Longmoore Estate, Pimlico
- Morgan House, Lillington and Longmoore Estate, Pimlico
- 120 Wood Lane, Isleworth
- Balfron Tower, Poplar
- Newall Court, Shepherd’s Bush
- Lambfold House, York Way Estate, Islington
- Rozel Court, Haggerston
- Jigger Mast House, Mast Quay, Greenwich
- Acacia Apartments, White City
- Kelso Cochrane House, Kensington
- Ten Degrees, Croydon
- Gilbert House, Churchill Gardens Estate, Pimlico
- Express Wharf, Isle of Dogs
- Pitcairn House, Homerton
- Fellows Court, Hoxton
- Festival Court, Rosehill, Sutton
- Eros House, Catford
- Sandringham Court, Soho
- Exbury House, Frampton Park Estate, Hackney
- Mullen Tower, Clerkenwell
- Sporle Court, Winstanley and York Road Estate, Battersea
Apsana Begum, MP for Poplar and Limehouse, has joined calls for specific legislation to compel landlords to fix broken lifts within a legally-binding timeframe similar to how Awaab’s Law will address mould and hazardous disrepair.
She said: “Lift failures are a common repairs issue which are not being prioritised as an urgent health and safety issue, despite their significant impact on vulnerable people – especially disabled and older people.
“From Balfron Tower to Express Wharf in my constituency and beyond, we know how it can leave people trapped and in fear. I support calls for legislation to be introduced to progress lift repairs swiftly and [to ensure they are] prioritised. This must be comprehensive with proper investment and address [the fact] that currently lifts often at the end of their shelf-life are still being able to be used and repaired with ordered and delayed parts from Europe, which may cost significantly more in the long-term than replacing the lift itself.”
‘It is unacceptable’
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, said: “Everyone has the right to a safe and decent home, so it is unacceptable that some housing providers are failing to repair their lifts in a timely manner, leaving vulnerable Londoners including the elderly and the disabled at risk.
“While the Mayor does not hold statutory powers over the maintenance of lifts in residential buildings, he has long advocated for greater legal protections that ensure social housing renters can hold their landlords to account for issues of disrepair in their homes. Sadiq will continue to push for a system that prioritises the rights of tenants as we work to build a better, safer London for everyone.”
A spokesperson for the Regulator of Social Housing, which is responsible for holding social landlords to the Safety and Quality Standard, which governs lift repairs, said: “Social landlords must ensure that tenants’ homes and communal areas are safe. They need to meet all legal health and safety requirements, including those for lift safety, and carry out any necessary repairs promptly.
“Our remit was strengthened last year and we have started a new inspection programme where we look for evidence that landlords are delivering the outcomes of our new standards, allowing us to identify issues earlier than before. We take action if landlords fail to meet those standards.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Adrian Zorzut is a Senior Local Democracy Reporter covering Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, and the City of London. A contributor to Harrow Online, his reporting focuses on local government, housing, planning, transport and public policy, helping residents understand the decisions and issues affecting their communities.
