LKP is calling for developers and freehold owners to pay significant sums to make good building safety failings that have emerged in the cladding scandal.
The proposal will be outlined by LKP trustee and ex-Bank of England economist Dean Buckner in greater detail at the APPG meeting on December 10.
It was, however, referenced in an article in the Sunday Times today.
The newspaper reported that the UK’s top five housebuilders, which all have built cladding sites, have made £10 billion since Grenfell.
In addition, it said that Kingspan, an £11bn company, sold its K15 phenolic insulation as safe for 15 years based on 2005 test results that it withdrew in October. The Grenfell inquiry heard how the real panels caused a “raging inferno” as they failed a 2007 test. K15 is thought to have become the most commonly used insulation board. Leaseholders in blocks with K15 said they face repair bills of up to £50,000 each.
The newspaper also repeated Private Eye’s report of Tory party donors with links to cladding sites:
The report can be read here:
Government’s solution to cladding scandal: just take out a second loan
Hundreds of thousands of flat owners could be forced to take on 30-year loans akin to a second mortgage to fix fire safety defects. Campaigners fear government proposals would leave leaseholders in negative equity – hitting “those who can least afford it the hardest” – while developers, builders and freeholders of dangerous blocks escape the burden.
There was in addition a leading article in the newspaper here
The leader said:
That is not good enough. These homes were bought in good faith in the belief that they were safe. Before his death this year, the Berkeley Homes founder Tony Pidgley told a meeting of people made homeless by a fire at an apartment block in Worcester Park, in the London borough of Sutton, that he accepted responsibility, although his firm has since denied liability. He was right.
The building industry is responsible, benefits hugely from taxpayer support and should pay. If the government cannot afford to make buildings safe, it should introduce a levy on the industry to do so. It is only fair to those caught up in this hidden housing scandal.
There were other newspaper reports in the Telegraph:
Is this the best the Government can do to solve the cladding crisis?
As a result, flat owners have been trapped in their homes, unable to move because they can’t get lending, and with some facing possible bankruptcy after being lumbered with the bill to fix the problems. Since then, all parties involved – ministers, lenders, surveyors – have been passing the buck and playing the blame game.
Cladding crisis risks ‘freezing the housing market’, MPs warn
Britain’s housing market risks being derailed unless the Government takes action to solve the cladding crisis which has caused thousands of sales to collapse, MPs have warned. Residents in tower blocks are routinely being told their flats are worthless because their buildings are covered in potentially flammable cladding, similar to the materials used on Grenfell Tower.
‘I don’t want to die in this flat’ – first-time buyers trapped in shared ownership leasehold nightmare
The requirement for an EWS1 form has meant shared ownership buyers cannot staircase as they cannot remortgage. “The system has broken down. There is no possibility of owning the full property. The entire way that the scheme was sold doesn’t function anymore,” Ms Jacquet said.
‘Our block is a cladding fire risk but we’re denied insurance’: residents left without vital cover
Laura Pearce, 31, owns a flat at Blenheim Court in Greenwich, London, and is suffering from breast cancer. “We are facing daily anxiety that our lives are at an even heightened risk due to owning a flat that is covered in flammable and combustible material,” she said.
Related posts:
Sajid Javid calls for Grenfell cladding round table with developers and freeholders … and LKP will be invited
You are better than commercial developers and freeholders so be kind over the cladding catastrophe, LKP urges housing association conference
Brokenshire tells freeholders to pay up to remove Grenfell cladding. But how can that work?
Cladding crisis reveals why freeholders are an impediment to any solution
Brokenshire wrongly says freeholders have paid for Grenfell cladding removal
Cracks in the leasehold racket as Barratt London drops ground rents
Either a “levy” or let them borrow over 30 years instead of the entirely innocent leaseholders?
Is there any way that we can get enough signatures to a petition to take to
Parliament – those who built the defective properties, the developers and builders, should be legally required to take responsibility to correct the building defects, including an award of compensation to those tenants and home owners affected. The developers profits are known. It should not be for the leaseholders to be forced to pay for the developers or builders wrongdoing who had failed to build property correctly, nor be required to take out loans to pay for the remedial works. Is it not possible to take legal action? Defective workmanship – does this not come under criminal law?
The Builders of those many properties that have fallen foul of the RICS’ and the Banks’ (non-Government) ‘rules’ (that unless there is a BF Certificate no mortgages will be allowed and no sales will be approved) will claim that:
”At the time of building, all materials used were either approved or not classified as a fire risk — therefore we cannot be held responsible of any changes made retrospectively!”
Government claims that construction companies be held responsible will, in the main, be useless — but it sounds good!
Likewise, the Government’s assumption that the vast majority of apartment blocks are owned by a ”Company” and are leased is another smokescreen — ignoring the vast number of owner-leaseholders who are to be held responsible!