Success story of a family firm and cladding nightmare

THIS weekend we report on cladding and building safety campaigners from Leeds who managed to get a face-to-face meeting with Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove, who travelled up from Westminster to talk to those affected.

It’s something he had promised Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn and fair play to the Minister for finally making it and for listening to the still terrifying reality of owning a leasehold apartment in a building with fire and building safety issues that pose a risk to life.

Mr Gove was clearly shocked to hear that less than five per cent of the affected apartment buildings in Leeds had been fully remediated whilst the rest still had safety issues and that is not the only problem. While apartment owners are not liable to pay for historical building repair work or for the removal of cladding, they are being forced by the freeholders of the buildings to pay thousands of pounds for interim safety measures and outrageously high insurance costs.

A growing number of leasehold flat owners have been tipped into bankruptcy and others into penury while being effectively trapped in a blighted home. Most are suffering from anxiety and depression and not surprisingly as it is now over six years on from the Grenfell fire tragedy.

As campaigner and blighted apartment owner Rachael Loftus says: “We have to pay huge bills and there is no end in sight. The freeholders and developers responsible for doing that work don’t care because it’s us who are paying the bills in the meantime.” They are calling for a deadline to remediate blighted buildings and we at The Yorkshire Post back them 100 per cent.

Also in this issue, we feature the family who own and run the Leeds-based lettings empire that is Pickard Properties. It’s a lovely success story that started with one house and a man who can backed by a great woman.