A Stockport dad says he has been left with no future as he is 'stuck' inside a flat he bought for £235,000 in a building now labelled 'uninsured, incomplete, and deteriorating'.
Matt Eastwood paid £235,000 for a flat in Meadow Mill, a Stockport building once described as 'the perfect location for redefined luxury'. Following a devastating flood on New Year's Day 2025, residents say the building is 'a landmark building in crisis'.
Eastwood told the Manchester Evening News: "It has been two years and we have been left here like animals. I have never lived in a place like this."
Flood fallout and resident struggles
In 2021, AWAL Investment said it invested millions to convert the historic Victorian-era Meadow Mill on the banks of the River Tame into 213 luxury apartments. However, residents said there were issues from the beginning, but the situation worsened after the flood.
More than 400 people had to be evacuated by emergency services after the mill's car park and lower floors were flooded, cutting off water and power supplies and leaving people stranded.
Stockport MP Navendu Mishra, who is supporting those in the building, said the situation was unacceptable, adding: "They should not be paying the price for historic failures, nor should they be left without clear answers about when these issues will finally be resolved."
Council and management response
In a recent open letter from the Meadow Mill Residents Association, Stockport Council was criticised over a lack of planning enforcement after a number of things were not delivered as part of the development. The Manchester Evening News understands Stockport Council is now currently in talks with AWAL over the alleged breaches of planning conditions with a view to remedy breaches as soon as possible.
Coun Jake Austin, Cabinet Member for Housing and Environment at the council, said: "We recognise that residents at Meadow Mill continue to have concerns following the unprecedented flooding experienced on New Year's Day last year and we remain committed to ensuring all parties resolve the concerns that have been highlighted."
AWAL has not responded to a request for comment from the Manchester Evening News.
Building condition and financial strain
Inside the building, bricks are crumbling due to flood damage, flytipped mattresses are left in communal areas, doors do not always close properly, and a fire exit does not open because the wires are cut. Eastwood said they had had dozens of parcels stolen along with multiple bikes because people could just walk in, while residents have had to take it upon themselves to clean the place up.
While the 2025 flood made things worse, Eastwood said the issues began before that with snags and plugs and electrics not being installed properly. Following a leak, he said he had to pay for his flooring to be replaced and was never reimbursed, while one plug socket has still not been sorted.
Eastwood says he is paying £3,500 a year in service charges, but general maintenance to the building has stopped. Property manager CERT said they were 'forced to suspend non-essential services' due to a lack of money driven by two portfolio landlords who 'own a large proportion of properties and haven't paid their service charge since early 2025'. A number of single unit leaseholders are also not paying according to CERT.
The company also said over £134,000 is needed to bring the building up to standard but cannot carry those out 'due to insufficient service charge funds'.
When the Manchester Evening News entered the building, there was a large empty space in the foyer with a single office desk while a mattress just lies on the floor in the corner surrounded by walls where the paint is peeling away and the brick is falling apart.
Eastwood said: "That has been there for weeks. People just leave stuff everywhere. When I bought this place, this had a TV here and settees here. It's got to a point where we have to take action because nothing is happening. I have had enough and I am embarrassed with the place."
He added: "We can't sell our apartment. We are stuck. We can't get insurance. Either we sell it as a cash deal cheaply or we rent it out but who would want to rent it out?"
Pointing to dirty windows and corridors with stains on the carpet, he said: "In the past they would send someone to clean the carpet but now no one has cleaned the corridors for a long time."
Residents speak out
Eastwood told the Manchester Evening News the situation had seriously affected his mental health, adding: "I have been left with no future. I am 45 years old. What am I going to do? I can't sell it. I can't rent it in the state it's in. I am stuck here. My whole future is f****d to pardon my French. It's devastating. It's just absolutely devastating."
Eastwood is not the only resident unhappy with the situation but one of the few to speak out publicly. One man, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "It's not good. The environment is not good. It's dirty. It smells like something is wrong. It smells odd. It always smells odd because no one has cleaned. Lots of dust around my windows because no one would clean them."
Another said: "There's no cleaning. We probably have to do it ourselves. There's no none else doing it, just the residents. It was fine before the flood."
A spokesperson for CERT, the property management company, said: "We are aware that a minority of residents aren't members of the Meadow Mill Residents Association (MMRA) and refuse to engage through the established escalation framework. CERT and the MMRA remain committed to working within the framework created for the benefit of all residents, and we strongly encourage all leaseholders and tenants to utilise these established escalation routes so we can continue to address site issues effectively."
They said all property owners were liable for service charge contributions as per the terms of their lease which has increased year on year based on inflation, adding: "CERT was not involved in the development of Meadow Mill nor party to the sale of any properties. We would refer leaseholders with any defects to their warranty provider."
