Leaseholders wont need to pay for unsafe cladding remediation in medium-rise flats

The Government has announced that leaseholders in lower height buildings will not have to pay for the removal of unsafe cladding.

Instead, leaseholder residents in blocks between 11 and 18 metres high will have their unsafe cladding removed at a cost to developers and builders.

Reports suggest that the Government is still considering whether the funding should be available to leaseholder landlords. The NRLA is making urgent representations to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to seek clarification and to emphasise that no leaseholders should pay for remediation of unsafe cladding and that landlords should not be singled out.

A spokesperson for the NRLA said: “We agree with the Government that leaseholders should not be expected to pay the costs of removing dangerous cladding.

“However, it is vital that its plans to address this treat all leaseholders, whether owner-occupiers or landlords, the same. It would be neither just nor fair if landlords were singled out in this way.”

Four point plan

Earlier this week, Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLHC) wrote a letter to the industry calling for it to agree on a fully funded plan of action, by March 2022. Mr Gove revealed a 4-point plan to ‘reset the government’s approach’ towards this issue. This includes:

• Opening up the next phase of the Building Safety Fund to drive forward taking dangerous cladding off high-rise buildings, prioritising the government’s £5.1 billion funding on the highest risk
• Those at fault will be held properly to account: a new team is being established to pursue and expose companies at fault, making them fix the buildings they built and face commercial consequences if they refuse
• Restoring common sense to building assessments: indemnifying building assessors from being sued; and withdrawing the old, misinterpreted government advice that prompted too many buildings being declared as unsafe; and
• New protections for leaseholders living in their own flats: with no bills for fixing unsafe cladding and new statutory protections for leaseholders within the Building Safety Bill

The old proposed loan scheme for leaseholders in medium-rise flats will be scrapped, and should industry not agree to a solution by the deadline, the Government if necessary will impose a solution in law.

Share your experiences with us on building safety

The announcement comes ahead of the return of proposed new legislation, the Building Safety Bill, to the House of Commons.

We are interested in hearing from NRLA members with experience of ownership and letting units in mid or high-rise properties to volunteer to share their knowledge and understanding of the challenges facing similar landlords. To read more and also share your experiences with us, click here.

A new consultation also opened this week, inviting the views of the housing industry on proposals to allow more leaseholders in mixed-use buildings to take control and ownership of their building.