At last, hope for f lats lef t unsellable in cladding row
CLADDING victims living in Wales could have their ‘unsellable’ flats bought by the principality’s government under a landmark scheme.
The support will be targeted at a ‘small number’ of leaseholders as early as next year.
It would be the first programme of its kind in the UK and will see pressure put on Housing Secretary Michael Gove to find solutions to the crisis in England.
Hundreds of thousands of leaseholders face bills of up to £150,000 to rectify fire safety defects identified in the wake of the Grenfell fire which claimed 72 lives in 2017.
Around 1.3 million flats across the UK remain unsellable. There are 163 high-rise residential buildings with some form of cladding in Wales, according to official estimates.
Welsh housing minister Julie James told the Senedd the scheme could include those who have failed to sell their flat because the sale would push them into negative equity, those in mortgage arrears and families living in overcrowded flats.
Describing the plan as a ‘mortgage rescue’, she added: ‘[Leaseholders] will either be able to sell the house to us and then if they want to stay on and rent it, they can, or they can vacate, take the money and start again somewhere else.’
The Daily Mail is campaigning to end the cladding scandal by June 2022. Campaigners welcomed the move by the Welsh government but said there was a lack of urgency from ministers.
Mark Habberfield, of Welsh Cladiators, said: ‘We are concerned about the apparent lack of commitment to time frames and feel this scandal is taking too long to be resolved.’
David Murphy, 56, who lives in an eight-storey block in Cardiff with flammable insulation, accused Miss James of giving leaseholders false hope, saying the criteria will be ‘so niche’ it help only a ‘handful’.
It comes as a firm linked to the Grenfell renovation was excluded from the Government’s Help to Buy scheme. Rydon Homes will be unable to market properties to firsttime buyers with the loans until the Grenfell inquiry has concluded.
The inquiry heard Rydon’s maintenance arm agreed to cut costs by switching from safer zinc cladding to the ACM type deemed the ‘primary cause of fire spread’ in the disaster.