Leaseholders face ‘nightmare’ over fire safety

MANY LEASEHOLDERS remain stuck with bills of thousands of pounds for fire safety defects in their buildings almost three years on from the Grenfell disaster, a parliamentary committee survey has indicated.

Some 70 per cent of respondents said they were still trapped with flammable cladding and a significant number highlighted serious fire defects not covered by existing Government funds, the Housing, Communities and

Local Government Committee (HCLGC) said.

Large costs included 24-hour fire patrols and higher insurance premiums, while lenders valuing properties at zero had led to lost sales and problems remortgaging, the survey noted.

In the Spring Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £1bn fund to remove unsafe cladding from high-rise residential buildings.

But Leeds Central Labour MP

Hilary Benn, who has been raising the issue, said: “My constituents who are leaseholders are continuing to face the nightmare of an unsafe home, the cost of waking watch bills, and they still have no idea when their homes are going to be made safe.

“And we urgently need the Government to set out how their funding will in practice be available to get this work started as soon as possible.”

Leaseholders in dozens of flat blocks in Leeds alone reported paying up to £400 a month each for 24-hour fire marshals as an interim measure so they could stay in their homes.

Committee chairman Clive Betts, the Sheffield South East MP, said: “What we have heard is not encouraging and it appears that much more will need to be done if people are to feel safe in their homes, and no longer face the stress of large bills to resolve issues not of their making.”