Developers will commit a minimum of £2 billion to fix their own buildings. Industry will also pay up to a further £3 billion through an expansion to the Building Safety Levy.
Under the new agreement, which will become legally enforceable, over 35 of the UK’s biggest homebuilders have pledged to fix all buildings 11 metres+ that they have played a role in developing in the last 30 years.
The UK Government is introducing new powers that could be enforced on a developer should they breach the agreement, as well as on any remaining companies who fail to sign up. These new powers would allow the Secretary of State to block those who refuse to sign from building and selling new homes.
As set out in January 2022, a new scheme will also see industry pay to fix buildings where those responsible cannot be identified or forced to in law. This follows previous confirmation that plans for a 30-year loan scheme paid for by leaseholders would be scrapped.
UK Government forces developers to fix cladding crisis plus protects leaseholders
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Michael Gove MP, has today, 10 January, announced an overhaul to the Government’s approach to building safety.
The scheme will be funded through an extension to the Building Safety Levy that will be chargeable on all new residential buildings in England.
The agreement confirms developers will:
- Act as quickly as possible to fix buildings
- Implement new proportionate guidance on building safety
- Regularly report to leaseholders and government on their progress
- Respect an independent dispute resolution process established by the UK Government
- Refund money already received from the taxpayer to fix their buildings
More information on how the UK Government plans to enforce the agreement in law will be released in due course.
Michael Gove is making progress with his promise to see those responsible for the cladding scandal be the ones to fix it. It’s promising to see a number of high profile developers commit to remediate fire safety works but more can be done to ensure that no leaseholder at all should pay. Mr Gove has a significant undertaking to secure what's needed and the key now is to ensure all developers sign up as only via a united industry wide response can consumers secure the support they need.
