Cladding: Birmingham MP welcomes "important" Commons vote to protect leaseholders
Labour will hold a vote to "kickstart" government action
It's thought up to 11 million people are at risk from life-changing cladding costs and unsellable properties.
Those figures, from Labour, have been released ahead of a parliamentary debate today (1 February) about protecting tenants and leaseholders from unsafe cladding.
The Party are calling for a National Cladding Taskforce to be created to "get a grip" on the crisis.
It would seek to carry out an urgent audit to establish the extent of dangerous materials on buildings.
In a statement, Labour say the Taskforce would drive forward their six demands for safer homes, which include:
- Immediate up-front funding for removing deadly cladding and other urgent fire safety work
- Protecting leaseholders and taxpayers by pursuing those responsible for the cladding scandal for costs
- A new, legally enforceable 2022 deadline to make homes safe
- Legislation to protect residents from costs
- Getting the market moving by ensuring affected residents can sell and re-mortgage
- Stamping out rogue builders by reforming the sector
Labour Leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said:
“Today needs to be a turning point for those affected by the cladding scandal. Millions of people have been sucked into this crisis due to years of dither, delay and half-baked solutions from the Government.
“For many leaseholders, the dream of home ownership has become a nightmare. They feel abandoned, locked down in flammable homes and facing ruinous costs for repair work and interim safety measures".
It comes more than three years after the fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, which claimed the lives of 72 people.
A fridge-freezer has been blamed for starting the fire but dangerous cladding on the building was blamed for its rapid spread.
Laws designed to make sure dangerous cladding is identified and removed has left many flats unmortgageable and unsellable, with residents facing bills of tens of thousands of pounds to fix the problem.
The Labour Party has also said the government should work with lenders, insurers and other industry leaders to make sure owners and leaseholders can sell and remortgage their properties.
Sir Keir said: "I urge Conservative MPs to vote with us in parliament today and put their constituents' safety and security first.
"And I urge the government to get a grip of this crisis through a national taskforce and by implementing Labour's six demands."
Edgbaston MP Preet Gill has campaigned on behalf of leaseholders.
Last year, the MP hosted a summit with Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood.
We spoke to Preet ahead of the vote in the Commons:
"This vote is really important because what we've seen for four years after the Grenfell tragedy is the Government have pretty much failed to get a grip of the scandal.
"How can anyone expect leaseholders to pay for this scandal which is clearly not of their making?
"Living in flammable buildings is not a situation anyone should be in, this is about human life.
"In my constituency, residents are sharing heartbreaking stories, there are children, elderly living in these apartments, nobody would wish this for any of their family members.
"We see the impact this is having on so many families.
"Today, we will find out if the Govermment are on the side of leaseholders or not."
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesman said:
"Leaseholders shouldn't have to worry about the unaffordable costs of fixing safety defects in high-rise buildings that they didn't cause - and should be protected from large-scale remediation costs wherever possible.
"We all want to see homes made safer, as quickly as possible and backed by our ÂŁ1.6bn funding we are making good progress on remediating unsafe homes.
"The Building Safety Bill is the appropriate legislative mechanism for addressing these issues and will be brought forward in due course."
Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.