Lawyers seek £40m from Grenfell-style cladding claims

LAW firms are set for a £40million bonanza through class action legal claims over Grenfell-style cladding, it emerged yesterday.

The outcome of a landmark case being brought by residents at a London tower block for compensation to cover the “distress and inconvenience” of living in flats wrapped in combustible cladding is being closely watched – with some developers warning it could lead to a flood of similar claims.

Residents at New Capital Quay in Greenwich have already won an agreement from new-build insurer the National House Building Council to pay for replacing the cladding at the development.

But some leaseholders have since signed up to a group action to claim additional losses such as loss of income and reduction in property values.

A letter from Leigh Day, the law firm representing them, says they could receive £3,000 each for distress and inconvenience alone.

Phil Stewardson, of Stewardson Developments, a property investor and developer, said: “This is a real worry and you can already see it happening in other areas where law firms can lump together claims under a no win, no fee arrangement.”

In the case of New Capital Quay, the largest development in Europe which is affected by such cladding, made up of 11 towers blocks and nearly 1,000 flats, 58 residents have joined a claim against the developer Galliard Homes and the site’s landlord Roamquest Limited for additional losses related to the cladding and the works to replace it.