The Docklands safety audit, now in its third week, has assessed seventy of the seventy-two vacant commercial properties on its register and found irregularities in nearly a quarter of them.

Fire Marshal Edwin Hale confirmed on Tuesday that sixteen properties have been flagged — up from twelve at last count — following the assessment of ten additional buildings over the past week. The new findings include two warehouses on Old Harbour Road, both owned by holding companies registered at Harbourfront Parade addresses, that were found to have no fire safety certificates at all. Not expired certificates. Not falsified certificates. No certificates.

“The absence of documentation is, in some respects, more troubling than the falsification of it,” Hale said. “A forged certificate at least acknowledges that one is required.”

The sixteen irregularities break down as follows: five properties with lapsed fire safety certificates, four with no documentation whatsoever, three with falsified certificates (including the two originally discovered on Chandler’s Row and Pilot’s Alley in February), two with expired insurance policies, and two with evidence of unauthorised habitation — vagrants or squatters occupying buildings that their owners declared vacant for tax purposes.

The final two properties on the audit register, both on Harbourfront Parade, are scheduled for assessment by Friday. Hale said the preliminary report would be compiled over the weekend and presented to the City Council next week — likely at the regular Thursday session on 19 March.

“The audit will speak for itself,” Hale said. “I would prefer to present it complete.”

Crayle Appeals

Separately, solicitor Edmond Crayle has filed a formal appeal to the Municipal Tribunal on behalf of the Ashcroft Property Group, challenging the Revenue Office’s determination of 9 March. The Revenue Office rejected two of three disputes filed by Ashcroft against the 2.4-million-florin vacant building levy, partially upheld one — reducing the total by approximately 120,000 florins — and applied a penalty of 1.5 per cent per month for non-payment. The total obligation stands at approximately 2.35 million florins and is accruing interest.

Crayle’s appeal, filed Tuesday, seeks an interim order suspending the penalty accrual while the Tribunal considers the merits. The filing argues that the Revenue Office’s assessment was “procedurally irregular and factually deficient” and that the classification of several Ashcroft-owned properties as vacant is disputed on grounds of ongoing renovation activity.

The Tribunal has not yet set a hearing date.

Gerald Ashcroft, managing director of the Ashcroft Property Group, has not commented publicly since the Revenue Office determination. His offices on Harker Street were observed to be closed on both Monday and Tuesday afternoons, though a light was visible on the second floor on Tuesday evening.

Revenue Office enforcement proceedings become available after ninety days of non-payment — approximately early June. Until then, the penalties continue to accrue.

Senior Inspector Callum Frye of the Metropolitan Constabulary, who leads the day-to-day Greystone Wharf arson investigation, declined to comment on whether the audit findings would affect the broader criminal inquiry. The investigation into Southgate Safety Consultants and the falsified fire certificates remains active.