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MPs call for legal provision to protect leaseholders from costs of fixing unsafe claddings

MPs noted that a £1.6bn fund set up after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 was not enough to cover the cost of repairs. Photo: Getty Images
MPs noted that a £1.6bn fund set up after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 was not enough to cover the cost of repairs. Photo: Getty Images

MPs from the Commons housing committee want more information on how the government will protect leaseholders from having to pay for the removal of dangerous cladding from their properties.

A report published by the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on the draft Building Safety bill found that “in its current form, the draft legislation fails to provide sufficient protection against leaseholders paying the bill for work to remedy existing fire safety defects.”

“The building safety charge should be a way of funding the cost of future work, not a mechanism for ensuring residents foot the bill for historic failures in fire safety construction or maintenance,” the report said.

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In its recommendations, it states that the government must “recommit” to the principle that leaseholders should not pay anything towards the cost of remediating historical building safety defects, and, in order to provide leaseholders with the peace of mind they deserve, amend the bill to explicitly exclude historical costs from the building safety charge.

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It noted that a £1.6bn ($2.1bn) fund set up after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 was not enough to cover the cost of repairs.

After the fire, the government said it would replace potentially flammable cladding for all buildings in England taller than 18 metres by last June.

A study in September found that only 155 out of 455 buildings with cladding similar to Grenfell had had it replaced, according to a BBC report.

Last month, housing minister Lord Greenhalgh said progress had been slower than he would have liked but work would be under way on all buildings covered with the cladding by the end of the year, the publication said, and he also hinted leaseholders would be liable for "some costs" for this.

Last week it was reported staff at insulation company Celotex were being pushed to sell more new products after the company was taken over by French firm Saint Gobain in 2012, a former employee said.

An inquiry heard that “pressure to increase profits” motivated the firm to fast-track a manipulated test of the flammable product used on Grenfell Tower.

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