Elderly tenants in Buckinghamshire have said they do not have fire extinguishers, hot water or a proper carbon monoxide alarm at their social housing run by L&Q.

In the event of a fire, L&Q has a ‘stay put’ evacuation policy for the residents of Bodley House, a complex of 29 flats for over-55s on Trewarden Avenue in Iver.

The housing association says this means that residents should stay in their flats if a fire breaks out in a communal area but should evacuate if the blaze is in their own apartment.

L&Q said the policy meant that it did not make firefighting equipment available, that it annually checked fire doors and that it made urgent repairs where necessary.

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But residents of Bodley House, which was built in 1992, have raised health and safety concerns over not having access to fire equipment, while at the same time relying on what they say are faulty fire doors.

Three people living in the building shared their experiences with the Bucks Free Press on condition of anonymity.

One said: “The front door has been surveyed because the fire officer said that it wasn’t fire safe. It’s still there. That was over two years ago. It actually fell off, was hanging on by one hinge.”

The resident said a fire officer from L&Q had also told her that the door of her own flat was no longer smokeproof and that it had ‘dropped by 6mm’.

She added: “Mine is not the only front door that has dropped, there were loads. And your advice to residents is to stay in your flat and wait to be rescued.

“My door has dropped 6mm, so if the place is on fire, I am going to sit in there am I and wait to be rescued with smoke pouring under my door?”

Another tenant added: “We used to have extinguishers, sand buckets and blankets but they have taken all of that away in favour of these little alarms.”

Residents also disagree with what they say is L&Q’s verdict that communal cupboards used to store Christmas decorations and other items are a fire hazard.

A third resident of Bodley House also claimed that the main hardwired carbon monoxide alarm in the building was broken and that a temporary one in the boiler room was not connected to the main alarms.

He said: “It is supposed to be hard-wired, but that is not functional, and they have replaced it with a battery-operated one, so no one is going to hear that. Plus, the other one is supposed to set the alarm off to warn people, so it is a bit naughty really.”

L&Q said one of its gas suppliers would ‘shortly’ be installing a new, hard-wired carbon monoxide alarm system at Bodley House.

Residents have also warned that two of the building’s three boilers, which broke down in 2022, have still not been fixed, meaning that 29 flats are now running on one boiler.

One of them said: “An elderly gentleman is having to boil a kettle to wash. How dangerous is that?”

Another added that an elderly lady cannot get her radiators to turn on and has recently been ‘freezing cold’.

Residents were also unhappy with the cleaning contract for Bodley House apparently being given to a new provider, claiming that one of its cleaners could not clean some areas of the building properly as the cable for their vacuum cleaner was too short.

One of them said: “Get a bloody extension lead! These people have been given the contract off a company that was doing alright.”

The new company also apparently did not supply toilet roll, paper towels or soap, which meant that the products had to be ordered from Amazon.

Other issues include a threadbare carpet in the lounge covered in warning tape, which presents a ‘dangerous trip hazard’ and has already seen one man nearly fall.

Bedbugs were also discovered in Bodley House in January and February this year, and spread to several areas of the building, resulting in one woman who was ‘very badly bitten’ needing hospital treatment.

Charlie Culshaw, the director of care and support at L&Q, told the Free Press: “The safety, well-being and comfort of residents is our top priority. Plans for improvements are already in place at Bodley House to ensure residents can be proud of their homes and communal areas.

“New flooring will be installed in communal areas next week, we will shortly be upgrading all of the boilers and carbon monoxide alarms, and a pest control specialist is currently on site and will stay until the issue with the bed bugs is resolved.”

He also apologised for the bedbugs and said a ‘new, more advanced technique’ would be used to deal with the pest if it returned.

Mr Culshaw added: “Fire safety is an absolute priority. We carry our weekly fire alarm tests to ensure everything is working correctly, and also provide residents with information about the fire safety and evacuation procedures specific to their building.”