Cladding removals ‘will cost families thousands’
LEASEHOLDERS in flats covered in cladding like Grenfell Tower face bills of tens of thousands if the building’s owners do not apply to a £1billion fund to remove it.
The financial lifeline was thrown to them by the Chancellor in his March Budget but it will be withdrawn at the end of July.
There is speculation that freeholders – those who own the building – are not rushing for a share of the money because the flat owners will take out loans to cover the costs of re-cladding.
The Leasehold Knowledge Partnership charity said: “Leaseholders are quite right to be anxious – they need to beg or cajole their freeholders to apply to the fund to remove combustible cladding.
“And if they don’t do so, they face bills of tens of thousands of pounds. Absurdly, flat owners are tenants in England and Wales and the building owner has responsibility to maintain the building. It would be unfair for some sites to be left out of the scheme because the freeholder does not ask for the money.”
Industry analysis suggests more than half a million people in England and-Wales could currently be living in homes with unsafe cladding.
The fund will not cover work on buildings which was committed to or started before March 11, when it was announced in the Budget. Residents at the Skyline Central tower block in Manchester have complained they are saddled with a “lifetime of debt” because their freeholder “acted too early” and work has already started.
They are facing bills of £15,000 and £20,000 each to remove combustible high-pressure laminate cladding.
A spokesman for campaign group Manchester Cladiators said: “It’s completely unfair that Skyline’s residents are punished because their freeholder has been proactive.”
The £1bn fund opened for applications on June 1, nearly three years after the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower spread through inflammable cladding and killed 72.
It covers the removal of different types of cladding except aluminium composite material, the kind used on Grenfell Tower, which is currently serviced by its own £600m fund.
Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said removal work must happen as an “absolute priority” and he will “not accept any excuses from building owners who have yet to take action”.