'Tragedy around every corner' Ipswich cladding protestors react to change in law
Tenants facing charges to repair buildings find little relief in the £10,000 cap on repair costs.
Last updated 15th Feb 2022
Nearly 5 years since the Grenfell tower fire and worries for leaseholders in Ipswich have not faded.
This week the Government have said 'changes would be put into place with a law which commits to protecting leaseholders, living in medium or high-rise buildings from having to pay anything for the removal of unsafe cladding.'
This would be included in the amendments to the Building Safety Bill, which is currently going through parliament.
As well as stopping developers using shell companies, which make it difficult to identify who is responsible, a cap is also being introduced to leaseholder's who are residents in the buildings affected by this.
The cap would mean residents would pay a maximum of £10,000 toward fixing the cladding, for homes outside of London.
However, after speaking to Alex Diggin, from Ipswich Cladiators, it appears, they feel, more still needs to be done.
'It's my opinion and our opinion that it should be £0. We are completely innocent and it should be those who design the building, constructed the building, and provided the products, such as the cladding and insulation, that should cover the costs for fixing our homes.' Alex says.
Alex acknowledged that £10,000 is still a large amount of money and many people will not be able to pay. He noted 'Just in my situation, my deposit for my first purchase was £7000 so I'm still looking at potentially a bill that is £3000 more than the deposit that I saved four years to pay for.'
These changes have provided a slight amount of relief for the tenants. Previously people in Alex's high rise were facing a bill of £96,000 to make the building safe.
'If I didn't pay that, then I would lose my home and I would have to declare bankruptcy. So now this safety net has been put in place.I'm now in a position where I won't lose my home and all of my savings.'
Despite this relief, worry is still an every day feeling.
' It's not just about the the financial costs now. It's about the fact that we are living in dangerous homes, where it's almost five years after Grenfell and there's still thousands of buildings around the country which are in a similar situation. You know that there could be a tragedy around the corner.'
In the aims of making more progress toward their goal, Alex stated 'The building safety crisis is not over and we're going to continue campaigning until leaseholders are liable for £0 of the cost to fix our buildings.'