Sheffield flats: Landlord says complaining Lightbox tenants are 'trying to get free rent'
A Sheffield landlord has insisted tenants who claimed an apartment block was left without heating or hot water were trying to get “free rent.”
Jade Ata, of Noble City Living, insisted Lightbox flats on Earl Street had “lukewarm” water and heating and the problem only arose earlier this month.
She disputed comments from residents who approached The Star, Sheffield City Council and Sheffield MP Abtisam Mohamed, claiming it was a longstanding boiler problem exacerbated by a cold snap earlier this month, which saw indoor temperatures fall as low as 11 degrees.
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Ms Ata, daughter of developer Gary Ata, said complainants all stated different timeframes, undermining their stories.
She said: “I can provide Sheffield City Council with over 50 different tenants within the building all claiming different timeframes on how long they have allegedly had issues with hot water and heating, but we can prove the issue only arose at the back end of the new year period.
“I appreciate times are hard but this is clearly just a tactic to get free rent.”
Tenant Matthew Bullimore said he didn’t want free rent but he did want “justice and compensation” for the “hell” of living at Lightbox.
He added: “I have always paid rent in advance and never refused to pay despite having to repeatedly raise problems with hot water and heating.
“I feel completely let down by Noble. It has been hell living here in conditions they have been aware of since September 2025.
“Never once have they owned up to the issues.
“We deserve justice and compensation for the neglect and distress caused by Jade and Noble.”
He added: “Tenants are claiming different timeframes because all the apartments are different. A lot of tenants didn't start recording data straight away either. They had problems with the same biomass boiler back in September 2024
He also claimed a fire panel has been showing a fault light for two years.
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Ms Ata said boiler parts were made to order and had to come from Prague.
She added: “We have paid over £1,500 for the fastest and most express delivery available. This is out of our hands.”
In an update on Sunday, January 18, tenant Aimee Wilson said hot water was back on and some people had heating.
She added: “I, however, do not have any heating. We have still had no communications from our landlord.”
Ms Ata went on to say: “The fire panel is checked weekly, serviced six-monthly and inspected by South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue annually.”
Sheffield City Council had compliance documents to confirm everything was in order, she added.
A spokesperson for SYFR said they had been in touch with a fire alarm engineer over the panel fault and they were working on it.
SYFR was aware of problems with the boiler and they were being dealt with by Sheffield City Council.
On safety, the spokesperson said: “Responsible persons will conduct their own fire risk assessment for the premises.
“SYFR is working with the responsible person for the premises to maintain compliance.”
Last week, Sheffield City Council said it was offering portable heaters to tenants and had launched an investigation.
A letter from the Private Housing Standards department states: “My colleagues and I conducted a site visit and observed that the heating and hot water system was not functioning adequately and that tenants are being exposed to unacceptable cold risks.
“We gathered evidence and have also installed temperature loggers which we will retrieve later this week.
“This will form our evidence of disrepair which we will use to evaluate whether or not the council needs to take legal steps in order to obtain resolution of the fault.”