Housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, has announced a new £3.5bn fund to fix cladding on high-rise buildings in England and further loans for leaseholders to fix similar problems in shorter buildings, with maximum monthly repayments of £50 a month.
Speaking in Parliament on 10 February, Jenrick claimed it was the “largest ever government investment in building safety”. The grants would be offered to leaseholders in residential buildings in England over 18 metres tall, or above six storeys, so they faced no costs for cladding remediation works. Those living with unsafe cladding on buildings between four and six storeys will not be covered by grants, but will be able to access a new system of long-term low-interest loans.
A new levy on developers was also unveiled that will cover the cost of grants and their “historical responsibility”. This will be applied when they seek planning permission to build new high-rise buildings. A separate tax will be introduced from next year on money made in UK residential property development to raise £2bn over a decade and help pay for cladding remediation.
Head of Block & Estate Management at Watsons Emily Farmer said: “This is yet another step in the right direction for the millions of leaseholders who are and continue to be affected by issues relating to the cladding external wall systems affecting blocks of flats across the country. There is still however a lot more that needs to be done to protect not only the leaseholders unable to sell their properties and fearing for the safety of their buildings but building owners who have invested in buildings that they believed to be safe.”
