House of horrors: Is Sovereign House the worst private flat block in Sheffield?

Monica, a short twenty-something with blond curly hair and metal-rimmed glass, might be more than happy to show me around Sovereign House, but she’s adamant I can’t use her real name. While her experiences over the last three years of living here would have sent most people running to SpareRoom, she’s actually terrified her landlord — or else the managing company that runs the building — might see fit to boot her out. Eventually, however, she admits that’s not the only reason. She’s also a bit embarrassed about living here. She’d rather her friends and colleagues didn’t know.

If Monica was living in housing reserved for people who have fallen on hard times, then a few of the laundry list of problems she reels off during my tour would be, while still unpleasant, perhaps less of a surprise. Take the decision back in May to ban children from living in the building — something none of the organisations with a hand in the building have denied, although it’s unclear who made it — which reportedly led to several families abruptly leaving. In accommodation for those with severe issues like drug addiction, this would be a sensible and understandable step. 

But Sovereign House — a towering building on Queen Street, still adorned to this day with posters promising “luxury student living” — is actually a block of 178 privately-rented homes. In my opinion, it might just be the worst private flat block in the entire city. I’m horrified to learn that Monica pays £675 a month for the dubious privilege of living here, far more than my colleague pays for a room in a pleasant houseshare in Nether Edge. 

This is a story about how a complex web of ownership and management — at one point involving a convicted fraudster who lied about captaining Bono’s superyacht — led to a building with severe problems growing steadily, unacceptably worse. Though a group of leaseholders are currently fighting to turn things around, it’s also a story about what renters will put up with if they learn that there’s no point demanding any better.