Cladding hit flat owners welcome new funding support to help with unsafe building repairs

Homeowners living in ‘orphaned’ buildings are being targeted by a new scheme launched by the government.

The apartment owners have been campaigning for years to have their unsafe buildings repaired and to have the costs covered by those responsible.

During this period, many have received bills for repair costs, which can run into the hundreds of thousands of euros.

The government has repeatedly said that industry – not tenants – should pay to fix the problems they have caused.

The pilot project launched earlier this week is one step closer to fulfilling that promise, with tenants and residents living in mid-rise buildings having their properties made safe while being “protected from excessive siding repair costs.”

The pilot anticipates a wider rollout next year and will help those flat owners who live in so-called ‘orphan’ blocks where the owner can’t be traced or has gone bankrupt.

The new scheme is funded by the £3 billion building safety levy and will cover buildings between 11 and 18 meters in height.

Around 60 buildings across England, which have temporary security measures in place, such as watch watches, will be invited to sign up for the pilot.

The scheme is in addition to the existing Building Safety Fund for buildings at least 18 meters high, the ACM fund and commitments from developers to finance the rehabilitation of their own buildings, which will be converted into legally binding commitments.

However, it is unlikely to provide support for lower blocks with unsafe revetment, which are less than 11 meters high.

The government has suggested that expensive repairs are unnecessary in most of these cases.

Many owners of siding flats live in fear that their unsafe buildings could be ‘the next Grenfell’.

In June 2017, a fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in London’s North Kensington. A total of 72 people were killed, including two who later died in hospital.

Hundreds of thousands of flats affected by the cladding scandal became unmortgageable after the Grenfell fire, with the properties deemed unsafe and posing too great a fire safety risk to continue lending.

Commenting on the launch of the pilot project, the Minister for Local Government and Building Safety, Lee Rowley, said: ‘This is a major step forward for tenant farmers who have been trapped in unsafe, unsaleable homes for far too long with unfair, costly repair bills.

“Building owners have a responsibility to make necessary repairs to the cladding and this plan will help make it happen.

“We are taking action to protect innocent tenants and make sure they are safely home. I will be monitoring progress closely as we work towards launch next year.”

The Medium-Rise Scheme, run by Homes England, has been set up to help the most affected blocks as quickly as possible.

Buildings will be assessed through a fire risk assessment carried out in accordance with the British Standards Institute’s PAS 9980 standard to ensure that recommended work is proportionate and that funding is well targeted.

Proposals for the £3 billion Building Safety Levy, which will fund the scheme, are currently under consultation.

The Levy runs alongside pledges from 49 of the country’s largest homebuilders, who have pledged at least £2bn to address fire safety deficiencies in buildings over 11m tall that they have played a part in over the past 30 years.

However, some developers cannot be tracked down and some may have already gone out of business. The Medium-Rise Scheme will attempt to fill this gap by funding the necessary repairs in these so-called ‘orphaned’ blocks.