Sheffield Council spent £38,000 of tenant's money on Hanover Tower solicitors

The findings of a three year investigation into why combustible cladding was put on Hanover Tower, on Exeter Drive, Broomhall, were published in a report earlier this year.

The 15-storey twin building failed fire safety tests introduced in the wake of the Grenfell disaster in 2017.

It showed hundreds of residents were put at risk for a number of years but missing records meant no one was found culpable.

The release of the report was delayed by more than three years and part of the reason for this was due to a solicitor review between September 2019 and June 2020, the report says.

A Freedom of Information Act request revealed the council paid solicitors £38,049 over 18 payments between September 2019 and June 2020.

Solicitors found there was not enough evidence for the council to make a claim against either the contractor or sub-contractor, any claim would only be for cladding above 18 metres and the council had not suffered any financial loss on which to base a claim for damages.

This came around the same time it told Homes England - a non departmental public body - there were no claims against the contractor and after it responded to a full council member question saying it had no plans to reclaim money spent on replacing the cladding.

Where the solicitor bill fell was revealed in recent full council members’ questions when councillor Douglas Johnson, leader of Sheffield Green Party, asked councillor Paul Wood, cabinet member for housing, whether taxpayers or council tenants - via the housing revenue account - would pay the cost.

Coun Wood replied it was via the housing revenue account, which takes it main income from tenants in the form of rents and service charges.

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