Government Says Developers Must Pay to Fix Cladding Crisis

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11 January 2022 | Updated 24 January 2022

House building firms have until March 2022 to remediate unsafe cladding on 11-18 metre buildings.

The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove, is warning the industry he will take all steps necessary to make this happen, and is willing to impose a solution in law.

In a letter, businesses have been given a deadline of early March 2022 to agree on a fully funded plan of action including remediating unsafe cladding on 11-18 metre buildings, currently estimated to be £4 billion.

Residents in blocks of this height had been ineligible for government support to remove unsafe cladding.

Protecting Leaseholders

"No leaseholder living in a building above 11m, will ever face any costs for fixing dangerous cladding," Michael Gove told the House of Commons.

"They are blameless and it is morally wrong that they should be asked to pay for the price.”

According to the BBC, the average cladding bill is around £40,000 per leaseholder, and some have received bills of more than £200,000, more than they paid for their flats in the first place.

In the letter, the Secretary of State asks companies to agree to make financial contributions to a dedicated fund to cover the full outstanding cost, and to fund and undertake all necessary remediation of buildings over 11 metres that they have played a role in developing.

Developers must also provide comprehensive information on all buildings over 11 meters that have historic safety defects and which they have played a part in constructing in the last 30 years

The government will announce a decision on which companies are in scope for funding contributions following discussions with industry but expect it to cover all firms with annual profits from housebuilding at or above £10 million.

House building companies such as Taylor Wimpey have already committed to funding fire safety improvement works for leaseholders in apartment buildings constructed over the last 20 years.

To learn more about building safety changes in the construction industry in 2021, and 2022's predictions, watch the video here. 

Picture: a photograph of a block of flats from below, showing balconies and windows

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 11 January 2022

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