Owner of £3,000,000 flat sues developer because it didn't have broadband

A livid tycoon who used his local library to get online because his new £2.95 million apartment didn’t have broadband is suing the luxury block owners for £100,000.

Millionaire travel boss Stephen Shalson, 70, moved into his 30th floor deluxe flat in The Heron, London, in February 2014 expecting a top quality modern set-up, he says.

The Barbican building – where a penthouse flat once went on sale for £18 million – offered a range of high-end facilities, including a private members’ club, roof terrace, restaurant, and valet parking.

But Mr Shalson was infuriated when he discovered he could not get online in his new apartment, and had to use the library and internet cafes instead.

He says he had to endure ‘about a thousand days’ of low-tech misery until October 2016, when a Hyperoptic connection was installed.

Now he is suing the freehold owners of the building, Heron Residences LLP at Central London County Court, accusing them of breach of contract by failing to provide proper internet facilities.

However, Heron say it was not in the terms of the sale contract or his lease on the three-bed pad that it would be wired for broadband, according to defence documents.

Businessman Mr Shalson, who once ran a company selling Concorde holidays, claims Heron agreed that his apartment would have ‘good quality broadband internet available in all rooms’.

His barrister, Daniel Goodkin, explained: ‘Given the price of the apartment, the fact that it was a new luxury development, and its situation in central London, it was so obvious as not to require express statement that the apartment would have a good quality internet service available in all rooms from the time he purchased it.’

Mr Shalson says he had to use his own 4G data and that his connection was so slow that he could not send or receive emails during the day.

Mr Goodkin continued: ‘As a result, until 14 October 2016, he had to travel to his brother’s house in Hampstead to use the internet, or to an internet shop in Kings Cross.’

He also made regular use of the library to get online.

Mr Shalson, who says he also had problems using his mobile phone in the luxury block, says Heron confirmed before purchase that his flat would be ‘wired for Sky TV and internet’.

But Heron Residences denies liability to compensate Mr Shalson, refuting his claim that ‘cabling for data services’ was part of a clause in the sale contract.

It also denies that Mr Shalson was told through solicitors that the apartment would be wired up or suggested to him that there would be quality broadband in all rooms.

In his written defence, barrister Robert Bowker said having an internet connection from the time of purchase was ‘not an outstanding obligation or provision in the contract of sale’.

And the fact that he had no internet service until the Hyperoptic cabling was installed in October 2016 was not a breach of clauses in the lease, he added.

The case reached court in a pre-trial despite The Heron’s legal trying to block his claim going ahead.

Mr Shalson, who bought his apartment on a long lease from Heron, is suing for alleged breaches of the contract of sale and lease, as well as under the Defective Premises Act.

Mr Bowker claimed Mr Shalson’s case was an abuse of process because several of the issues were previously dealt with in earlier litigation relating to payment of service charges.

But Judge Richard Roberts said the internet claim now being fought was ‘an entirely separate set of proceedings’, adding: ‘there has been no abuse of process here’.

The judge’s ruling means Mr Shalson’s case against his landlords can now go ahead, with a full trial set for next year.

Mr Shalson’s £97,300 claim is centred on compensation at £100 per day for no internet facilities, with part of it based on ‘the time and cost incurred accessing alternative Internet facilities’.

But, asked by the judge how he arrived at the figure, Mr Shalson’s barrister said: ‘it’s not a mathematical exercise, I accept that’.

Mr Shalson says he now has satisfactory internet access in the apartment and is now a more contented resident.