A House of Commons inquiry has told the government that tenants should not have to pay for the removal of unsafe siding from their homes.
A committee of MPs, including Tory Blyth Valley MP Ian Levy, said the government and the building industry should ‘fully fund’ the £ 15bn cost to remove the coating which could pose a risk of damage. fire and dealing with other fire safety deficiencies.
The Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee said, “We reiterate our call on the government to restore the principle that tenants should not pay anything for the cost of repairing the security flaws in historic buildings.”
While it remains to be seen how the government responds, the conclusion is a boost for residents facing huge bills for the removal of dangerous siding, such as that from St Ann’s Quay building in Newcastle.
It was built in the early 2000s and over the past 18 months it has emerged that the block has a dangerous coating and other fire safety flaws that could leave tenants with a £ 2million repair bill .
In addition to being clad in Aluminum Composite Material (ACM), similar to what has been identified as the root cause of the rapid spread of the Grenfell Tower fire, the 91-apartment building is also known to have cavity fire shutdown issues that would help stop a fire from spreading and also has wooden balconies.
MPs welcomed the government’s announcement in February of additional £ 3.5bn in funding to remove hazardous coatings, but said much more money was needed to cover the costs of the work fire safety.
In a report released today, the Commons Committee calls for the creation of a “Global Building Safety Fund”, funded by government and industry.
This would be open to all buildings with existing fire safety concerns without barriers based on height, occupancy types or nature of fire safety defects.
Priority should be given to buildings where residents are most at risk, MEPs said.
They also warned that the government was not collecting enough data to understand the extent of sanitation needed for buildings.
Without better information, the government cannot know the real cost of fixing the problem, how long it will take or whether the industry has the capacity to carry out the work, MPs said.
The government should urgently collect and publish more data on the number of buildings awaiting remediation, the committee said.
Developers can and should be expected to contribute more to reclamation costs, MEPs added.
Attention was focused on the coating after the Grenfell fire in 2017, which killed 72 people. A fire spread quickly in the 24-story Grenfell Tower building in North Kensington, west London, and the exterior cladding used in the building was partly to blame.
Other properties have been found to be fitted with an aluminum composite material (ACM) coating similar to that used at Grenfell. Many others have a non-ACM coating which nevertheless does not meet building regulations.
Landlords affected are often tenants in towers. Many have found it difficult or impossible to insure properties, or have faced huge insurance or repair bills. Homeowners have also found that banks will not provide mortgages for their homes, making them un-sellable and worthless.