Leaseholders ‘Horrified’ After Final Vote On £10bn Fire Safety Costs

Homeowners have reacted with “horror” after parliament finally voted against protecting them from post-Grenfell fire safety costs that could run to £10bn. Campaigners for hundreds of thousands of people trapped with devastating bills to make their homes safe said Wednesday night’s vote in the House of Lords against protecting them “pulls the rug from under a generation of leaseholders”. It comes after weeks of debates in parliament in which the government rejected calls from Labour and about 30 rebel Tory MPs for them to meet the cost and recoup the money from property developers. Read more on the Guardian website.

Leaseholders ‘horrified’ after final vote on £10bn fire safety costs | Grenfell Tower fire | The Guardian

Property Developer Plans 5,000 UK Retirement Homes In City Centres

A property developer owned by a French investment management group has announced an ambitious £2bn plan to build 5,000 retirement homes across 40 urban sites in the UK over the next decade. As town and city centres are being reshaped as a result of the changes to UK high streets accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, Retirement Villages Group (RVG) said it had won planning permission for a £110m retirement community of 196 one and two-bed apartments to rent or buy in central West Byfleet in Surrey, on the site of a 1960s office block with shops and a car park, which will be knocked down. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/12/property-developer-plans-5000-uk-retirement-homes-on-urban-sites 

Developers PM Backed When London Mayor Give Almost £1m To Tories

Property developers connected to major construction projects approved by Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London have donated almost £1m to the Conservative party over the past year. Analysis of public records shows a significant cash injection from property tycoons linked to developments, including blocks of luxury flats with no affordable housing, which were signed off by Johnson and his deputy, Sir Edward Lister, who oversaw planning. Richard Desmond, the former owner of the Daily Express, is among the donors, along with the billionaire Reuben family and the Mayfair-based property firm Delancey owned by Eton-educated Jamie Ritblat. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/28/revealed-developers-backed-by-boris-johnson-when-london-mayor-donate-almost-1m-to-tories

Grenfell Tower Borough 'Behaved Like A Property Developer'

The chief executive of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea told survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster that the council had been behaving like “a property developer masquerading as a local authority”, MPs have been told. Barry Quirk, who took over at the borough one week after the fire in June 2017, made the comment in a private meeting with Grenfell United, the survivors’ group, one of its leading members, Edward Daffarn, told the House of Commons housing select committee.“Think about that,” Daffarn told the MPs. “They were property developers masquerading as a local authority. They failed to keep us safe because they had higher priorities – getting their hands on the land, this massive goldmine they had.” Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/20/grenfell-tower-borough-behaved-like-property-developer-barry-quirk