But, to go back to the structural steel, we also had a structural steel expert who was of the opinion that a lot of the steel work within the development is significantly corroded. Now, the argument, of course, on the builder's side, is 'How corroded is it?' and 'To what extent is it?' So, now we've got to have experts go back to carry out further investigations, to get into more apartments, to rip those apart, to try and identify what that problem is.
So, once they come to an agreement on the extent of the problem, you have to produce a remedy for it, and how much or what has to be done—bolts replaced, perhaps plates welded on, whatever. So, you have to get a program of works. And then, from the program of works, you have a timeline. But then you go back to, 'Why is it corroded?', and our experts feel that one of the major problems why the steel is corroding is because the roof was badly designed and wasn't constructed using the specified materials, as it should have. So, the responsibility then is all so blurred, and you're going back, historically, for many, many years. We've spent over £0.5 million having to replace the roof because of the defects and the leaks that were affecting the apartments below.
So, that is the complexity of what's going on and, as a result, we made a very early decision that dealing with Bellway, as a development, was beyond our ability as directors, so we employed a legal team to lead us in that, and, at the same time, that we would go down the route of a defective premises action, which is in place, ready to go at any time that we decide it's the right time. And the result of that is, when we told Bellway of what was happening there, it was only then that we started to see action from the builder. Within a week of them being advised that we were considering the claim, we had Bellway representatives visiting site, looking at what the problems were in regards to access, where they could put up their compound et cetera, et cetera. So, it's the threat of legal action that has actually got something happening with us. But that legal action is being funded by the leaseholders.
Now, I know the role, as you said, is to focus on the problems with the Welsh Government and the fire protection. But you have to bring in how it affects individuals, because it's all connected. Cara's talking about mental health et cetera, and the experience that we have is duplicated many, many times. Now, in my particular case, my mortgage came to an end in December 2023 and I had to redeem it. But, because I couldn't sell my flat, I couldn't redeem it. So, the agreement is that, every month, I have to ring my mortgage lender to get an extension of my mortgage. Now, I know anybody in their right mind, the business manager, is not going to repossess my flat when you have a flat that has Welsh Government remediation, where you don't know what work's going to be done, when it's going to be done, how long it's going to be done, and at the same time you have a defective premises action that's likely to be in place. So, the value of that flat is zero, with a £110,000 mortgage. Nobody in their right mind is going to say, 'Right, we can't redeem it, we're going to take it back.' But there's always that uncertainty in the back of your mind, 'What if, what if, what if?' Now, on the twenty-third of this month, I have to ring Santander up and say, 'This is the situation, which hasn't changed.' But, in fact, it has, because, whereas last month I told them that we had the remediation and we didn't know when it was starting and what was done, and we talked about the DPA, now I can tell them, 'On 9 September, we were issued with an enforcement notice by the local fire brigade.' Because, with all the surveys that were done, and I admit, even our experts missed the fact that—. When the property was built, it's their own, it's their input. Because of the defects, it becomes evacuation—everybody evacuates at the same time. So, we put fire alarms in, we put the sensors, the fire alarms, in the corridors. What nobody realised is that there's a specification that the 75 decibel has to be heard at the bed head. So, if you've got an alarm in the corridor, that has to go through the front door and through the bedroom door to wake up the person in bed so that they can evacuate. And it isn't in place. So, now we've got an enforcement notice that means—. And I'll give credit to Bellway, much as it hurts—and it does hurt—they have reacted very quickly to send a contractor in to do a report and to see how quickly they can get individual alarms into each apartment. But the amount of work that that involves, you can imagine. You've got to get into 158 flats. Work in the corridor is easy, but to get into the flats—. And, in addition, there's also work that has to be done because there was no fire alarm or fire sensors in the car park below. So, that's another thing. But what I'm trying to emphasise is that this has come out of the blue. It's something that nobody thought about, nobody expected.