Government sets out new plan to protect leaseholders in cladding crisis

The government has reset its approach to building safety, confirming that leaseholders living in their own flats will not face any costs to fix dangerous cladding.

Following Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove’s letter to industry, the old, proposed loan scheme for leaseholders in medium-rise flats will be scrapped, with industry given two months to agree to a financial contributions scheme to fund the new plan.

In addition, a new dedicated team is being established to pursue and expose companies at fault and to force them to take responsibility for making buildings safe.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove, said: ‘More than 4 years after the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the system is broken. Leaseholders are trapped, unable to sell their homes and facing vast bills. But the developers and cladding companies who caused the problem are dodging accountability and have made vast profits during the pandemic whilst hard working families have struggled.

‘From today, we are bringing this scandal to an end – protecting leaseholders and making industry pay. We will scrap proposals for loans and long-term debt for leaseholders in medium-rise buildings and give a guarantee that no leaseholder living in their own flat will pay a penny to fix dangerous cladding.

‘Working with members of both Houses, we will look to bring a raft of leaseholder protections into law through our Building Safety bill. And we will restore much needed common sense on building safety assessments, ending the practice of too many buildings being declared unsafe.’

Dame Judith Hackitt, who chaired the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Faire Safety, added: ‘Today’s announcement by the Secretary of State is very welcome and should come as a great relief to the many leaseholders who have felt trapped by the prospect of having to pay for remediating defects to properties which they bought in good faith.

‘Those who caused the problem now need to step up, take responsibility and show some leadership. This problem has gone on for too long and we need a rapid solution, not months of debate and negotiation leaving innocent leaseholders in further limbo.’

Photo by Pedro Ramos