Owners Face New Trap In Their Bid To Sell Flats Hit By Grenfell Cladding Crisis

Thousands of people are stuck in flats they cannot sell or remortgage despite government efforts to persuade banks to drop fire-safety cladding checks on low-rise buildings. The government announced in July that external wall surveys, or EWS1 certificates, which have become commonplace since the Grenfell disaster, would no longer be required on buildings not higher than 18 metres. But banks and building societies are still insisting on checks which, due to a shortage of qualified and insured fire engineers, can take months or even years to carry out. Read more on the Observer website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/sep/26/owners-face-new-trap-in-their-bid-to-sell-flats-hit-by-grenfell-cladding-crisis 

Grenfell Fire: Cladding Company Lawyer Says It Holds No Responsibility

A lawyer for the company which made the cladding panels used in Grenfell Tower said it was unfair to pin the blame for the fire on them. Stephen Hockman QC, speaking on behalf of cladding giant Arconic, told an inquiry into the 2017 disaster the company’s product was used in a “wholly unorthodox and irregular cladding system” on the west London tower, for which it “bore no responsibility”. In 2019, inquiry chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick concluded the “principal reason” the flames shot up the building at such speed was the combustible cladding which acted as a “source of fuel”. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/cladding-company-lawyer-no-responsibility-grenfell-fire-b955317.html 

Government Allocates £578m To Fix Dangerous Cladding Through Building Safety Fund

More than £578m has been allocated to high-rise blocks covered in dangerous cladding through the Building Safety Fund, latest figures from the MHCLG have revealed. The figure was published in a monthly update on the government’s Building Safety Programme and showed that private sector blocks have secured £499m to remove dangerous materials, while social housing buildings have received £78.7m. However, as of 30 June, only £109m had actually been given to these blocks. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/government-allocates-578m-to-fix-dangerous-cladding-through-building-safety-fund-72107?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60 

Cladding Culprits Are Getting £450m From The Taxpayer

The government has failed to recover a penny of the £450m it is giving landlords to fix unsafe cladding – despite promising to get tough with those responsible for installing the highly dangerous material. Last year, in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people, ministers began “naming and shaming” those who still hadn’t removed the flammable coverings on hundreds of high-rise buildings. The government department in charge of housing approved nearly £450m of handouts to those same landlords to speed the work along – but there were strings attached. Read more on the Huffpost website.

Cladding Culprits Are Getting £450m From The Taxpayer. They Haven't Repaid A Penny | HuffPost UK (huffingtonpost.co.uk)

Building Safety Fund – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether, in respect of buildings with unsafe cladding, he has inserted a contract clause to say that leaseholders cannot claim assistance for cladding repairs from the Building Safety Fund unless they can prove that they have sufficient funding to complete all necessary fire safety works; and if he will make a statement

Christopher Pincher: ..we must ensure that the remediation of the unsafe cladding systems is not delayed by any funding shortfalls for any additional works the applicant may want to take forward at the same time that are not eligible for funding. There is no requirement within the contract for applicants to perform other fire safety works at the same time as cladding works, and if the applicant chooses to perform other works as separate projects, this will not affect the payment of funding for cladding remediation.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2021-03-03/162511

Help to Buy Scheme: Insulation – Parliamentary Written Answer

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to extend the interest free period on Help To Buy Loans for leaseholders living in buildings with unsafe cladding.

Christopher Pincher: The Government is conscious of the need to make any financing scheme affordable for leaseholders. That is why we have said that any financing scheme will have a £50 a month cap. We will publish more details on how these will work alongside existing funds (including the Building Safety Fund (BSF)) soon. There are no plans to extend the interest-free period on Help to Buy Equity Loans.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2021-02-22/156607

Building Safety Fund (1) – Parliamentary Written Answer

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to recoup the costs of the Building Safety Fund from residential property developers.

Christopher Pincher: The Building Safety Fund should not be the only means of funding the remediation of unsafe cladding on high-rise residential buildings. Building owners should meet the costs without passing them on to leaseholders wherever possible, through their own resources or by recovering costs from applicable warranty schemes or from the developers or contractors who were responsible for the installation of unsafe cladding, as is happening with more than half of the private sector buildings with ACM cladding. Applicants to the Building Safety Fund are required to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to recover the costs of replacing the unsafe cladding from those responsible.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2021-02-11/153224

Grenfell Cladding Firm President Accepts Staff ‘Lied’ And ‘Misled’ Customers

The president of the French firm which sold the cladding panels used on Grenfell Tower has accepted that its staff “misled” and “lied” to customers, as he was grilled about a series of internal emails which showed it hiding serious test failures from the market. The inquiry has already heard that testing from 2005 showed the panels obtained a reasonably high ‘Euroclass B’ rating when fixed to a wall with rivets, but burned 10 times as fiercely and failed “spectacularly” when bent into ‘cassette’ shapes and hung from the wall on rails. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/grenfell-cladding-firm-president-accepts-staff-lied-and-misled-customers-about-fire-performance-69625?utm_source=Ocean%20Media%20Group&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=12182125_IH-DAILY-19-2-2021-GR&dm_i=1HH2,793SD,8CKJV9,TEFT6,1 

Grenfell Cladding Firm Didn't Withdraw ACM For 'Commercial' Reasons

Arconic continued to sell the cladding product used on Grenfell Tower despite concerns about its safety because of “cost implications”, its UK sales person said on a phone call shortly after the fire. It also emerged that Deborah French, a former UK sales manager for the manufacturing giant, failed to raise the alarm after realising that Reynobond PE [polyethylene] did not have test reports clearing it as Class 0 – the standard for use on high rises like Grenfell Tower under English building guidance. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/grenfell-cladding-firm-didnt-withdraw-acm-for-commercial-reasons-inquiry-hears-69510?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Johnson Accused Of Betraying Homeowners Over Cladding Crisis

 Boris Johnson stands accused of betraying homeowners after ministers unveiled a £3.5bn fund to fix dangerous cladding which risks leaving an estimated half a million people still facing financial difficulties. The prime minister faced a backlash from his own MPs after the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, announced that homeowners in blocks less than 18 metres tall would be left out of a new cladding crisis fund. They will be offered long-term low-interest loans instead, which some said risked pushing them into negative equity. Last week Johnson told parliament: “No leaseholder should have to pay for the unaffordable costs of fixing safety defects that they didn’t cause and are no fault of their own.” Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/10/boris-johnson-accused-of-betraying-homeowners-over-cladding-crisis

Leaseholders Feel ‘More Trapped’ In Blocks With Cladding Because Of Help To Buy Loans

Some leaseholders who have attempted to move have been blocked by Homes England, the administrators of the Help to Buy programme, because of restrictions around sales of apartments in blocks with dangerous cladding. The government’s housing delivery agency is now preventing the redemption of loans on these homes, too. Homes England currently has a condition in place in which those who have bought their homes with support of a Help to Buy loan are only allowed to sell their home at an ‘unaffected market value’. This means that homes cannot be sold at a price that takes into account the dangerous materials on the building. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/leaseholders-feel-more-trapped-in-blocks-with-cladding-because-of-help-to-buy-loans-69463?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60 

Flat Owners Should Not Have To Pay For Cladding Removal, Say Tory MPs

Conservative MPs have piled pressure on the government to act swiftly to stop flat owners being forced to pay vast sums for the removal of flammable cladding, a situation one called “a living nightmare” for many leaseholders. Speaking in a Commons debate, a series of Tory backbenchers warned ministers that not enough was being done to help leaseholders affected by the fire risk scandal that emerged after the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/01/flat-owners-should-not-have-to-pay-for-cladding-removal-say-tory-mps 

'Step Up' And Face Grenfell Inquiry, Minister Tells Cladding Firm Bosses

The UK government has demanded that executives who supplied combustible cladding to Grenfell Tower “step up to the plate” after their refusal to give evidence to the public inquiry into the disaster provoked anger among the bereaved and survivors. Stephen Greenhalgh, the building safety minister, escalated a legal and diplomatic dispute over the position taken by three current and former executives at the French division of the US company Arconic. He told them to stop hiding behind an arcane French law. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/03/step-up-and-face-grenfell-inquiry-minister-tells-cladding-firm-bosses-arconic

Cladding Firm ‘In The Know’ About ‘Dangerous’ Material Used On Grenfell

Senior staff at the firm which manufactured the cladding panels used on Grenfell Tower admitted to being “in the know” about the risk in internal emails which also branded discussion of their fire performance “VERY CONFIDENTIAL!!!!!”, the inquiry has heard. Shocking internal emails discussed by lawyers representing victims of the fire and Rydon, the main contractor on the tower’s refurbishment, appear to show that Arconic was aware of the perils of its Reynobond PE product long before the fire. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/cladding-firm-in-the-know-about-dangerous-material-used-on-grenfell-emails-show-68511?utm_source=Ocean%20Media%20Group&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11963928_IH-DAILY-10-11-2020-GR&dm_i=1HH2,74FFC,8CKJV9,ST641,1 

Director At Grenfell Tower TMO Describes How Fatal Cladding Saved £800,000

A director at the landlord of Grenfell Tower has apologised for the “devastating” fire after he described his role overseeing hundreds of thousands of pounds in cost savings relating to combustible cladding installed on the council block. Peter Maddison, director of assets and regeneration at the Kensington and Chelsea tenants management organisation (TMO), was close to tears at the end of his testimony to the public inquiry into the tragedy when he said sorry. “Knowing what I know now there is no way we would ever have clad that building in anything that was flammable,” he said. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/26/director-at-grenfell-tower-tmo-describes-how-fatal-cladding-saved-800000

Leaseholders Paying More Than £11,000 A Month For Waking Watch

Leaseholders living in blocks with dangerous cladding are paying more than £11,000 a month between them for waking watch patrols, new government figures have shown. The figure paid by each individual leaseholder is £137 on average. However, the monthly figure increases to £17,897 per block when you take the median average and £331 per leaseholder. A waking watch is a measure that is required when the presence of dangerous cladding or fire safety issues means the evacuation policy on a block changes from stay put to simultaneous evacuation. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/leaseholders-paying-more-than-11000-a-month-for-waking-watch-mhclg-analysis-says-68232?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60 

Five Landlords 'Named And Shamed' For Not Fixing Cladding

The government has “named and shamed” five building owners who have not fixed dangerous cladding on their properties, describing their behaviour as “egregious”. They include Adriatic Land 3 Limited, a freeholder that is managed by a firm led by David Cameron’s brother-in-law William Astor. The move delivers on a threat last month by the housing secretary, Robert Jenrick to name recalcitrant freeholders almost 1,000 days after the Grenfell Tower fire, which claimed 72 lives. Jenrick also named Chaplair Limited, a company that has freehold investments worth more than £8m, Grangewalk Developments Limited, RMB 102 Limited and STG Management (London) Limited. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/24/half-a-million-people-in-uk-live-in-flats-with-unsafe-cladding-report

MPs Urge Government To Fix All Buildings With Dangerous Cladding

MPs have demanded that the government finally foot a multi-billion-pound bill to bail out hundreds of thousands of apartment owners caught in the post-Grenfell fire safety crisis. Hilary Benn, MP for Leeds Central, led cross-party calls for the chancellor, Sajid Javid, to urgently increase the £800m fund to remove dangerous cladding from at least 400 buildings and make more money available to rescue other leaseholders. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/feb/12/mps-urge-government-to-fix-all-buildings-with-dangerous-cladding

Government Ready To ‘Name And Shame’ Over Cladding Remediation

The government is close to “naming and shaming” those owners of buildings who have yet to take any action to remove dangerous cladding from high-risk residential buildings. Housing secretary Robert Jenrick told MPs he wanted building owners who had yet to apply for cash from the government’s £200m remediation fund to do so as quickly as possible. The fund, set up to support building owners’ efforts to remediate tower blocks featuring ACM cladding, closes in December. 22 privately-owned high-risk residential buildings currently had no plans in place to have their ACM cladding removed. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/government-ready-to-name-and-shame-over-cladding-remediation/5102404.article

Flats Chosen To House Grenfell Survivors Found To Have ‘High’ Fire Risk

A block of flats chosen by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council (RBKC) to house survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire has been found to have “high” fire risk and needs immediate work to make it safe. A fire risk assessment of the Hortensia Road block in Kensington, which is currently housing 20 people and was set aside for the survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire, also found that there was "no evidence" that the cladding of the building had been inspected. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/block-of-flats-chosen-to-house-grenfell-survivors-found-to-have-high-fire-risk-62729?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60