Craig Mackinlay, Parliamentary Candidate and Laura Sandys MP met with concerned Broadstairs residents to discuss advertisements that have appeared online offering cheap rooms to rent in two care homes recently shut down by the Care Quality Commission.
Craig said: “Local residents are understandably very worried that within just weeks of the Fairfield Manor and Woodlands care homes being closed after inspectors identified "serious concerns with the standards of care", these beautiful properties are being offered for rent, room by room, for £50 per week.
We do not believe that the properties are licenced as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) and this is being brought to the attention of Thanet District Council, requesting that they if indeed no licence exists, swift enforcement action will be taken. I have also taken residents’ concerns up with the Chief Executive of the group managing Fairfield Manor and Woodlands care homes, requesting a meeting to discuss their future intentions for the site. There is a shortage of care homes nationally and locally and I share residents’ calls for these properties to be brought back into use for this purpose; not least because there is a local need, but additionally to safeguard the interests of the residents at The Mansions, many of whom have bought their properties for retirement living.”