CAMPAIGN: Clear The Cladding and make buildings safe

After the Grenfell tragedy in which 72 people were killed, building regulations came under huge scrutiny.

It was soon found that the type of cladding used on Grenfell (ACM) helped spread the fire and 75 samples taken across the UK failed the fire safety testing.

In May 2018 the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced a £400m fund to remove this type of cladding off social housing and in May 2019 it announced a further £200m for the private sector.

However, it soon became clear that thousands of other buildings across the country are also covered in flammable cladding - just not ACM.

After Grenfell, the government started advising "building owners" to check if their buildings are safe and what has unfolded is nothing short of a safety crisis.

It's now estimated that over 700,000 people are currently living in dangerous buildings over 18 metres (or six storeys high).

And as soon as a building is deemed unsafe, residents are met with huge bills.

Many are told to immediately install 24 hour waking watches, or fire wardens, to patrol the building, insurance premiums sky-rocket and flats instantly become unsellable.

Residents at one building in Manchester with 42 flats were told they had to install a waking watch at a cost of £500 extra per month per flat.

People living at another building, in Leeds, were told that they must have both a waking watch and new fire alarms fitted, again at the cost of the leaseholder.

And in many cases, the exact cost is never disclosed to residents and instead their service charge is hiked up without full breakdown of the costs.

Abi Tubis lives in an affected building in Leeds and set up the Leeds Cladding Scandal group last year.

She said: "Our life is in the hands of someone who's in control and accountable for the building, so the building owner, but they don't pay any pennies towards it.

"They could say we want the very best for our residents and get the most expensive fire alarm system and expect us to pay.

"I fully appreciate people take a gamble when they buy property. If something happens - say the roof falls in - people club together.

"But this was so unforeseen, we didn't build these buildings, we bought them in good faith.

"It is completely wrong that the costs will come down to the innocent people trapped in this crisis."

In March 2020 the government announced at £1 billion building safety fund to cover the cost of remediating buildings with other dangerous cladding.

But this only covers building over 18 metres and just applies to the cladding.

A recent report from the MCHLG Select Committee found the £1 billion will not be sufficient to remediate all buildings with combustible non-ACM cladding above 18 metres. The Government’s own estimate is that this will cost between £3 billion and £3.5 billion, but it could well be much higher.

Furthermore, the Public Accounts Committee which recently released their assessment on the remediation of dangerous cladding found "progress unacceptably slow."

It said: "Residents of buildings with unsafe cladding face huge financial burdens, with little say in the process. Many say they are not being kept informed about the process of having their buildings made safe.

In addition, residents who own their properties are incurring huge costs for safety measures, passed onto them by building owners."

MP for Leeds Central Hilary Benn has raised the issues facing hundreds of thousands of people across the country several times in Parliament.

He said: "It's a nightmare...it's an absolute nightmare.

"All these people saved and saved and thought they'd bought the home of their dreams and discover now they're living in a fire risk in a flat that isn't worth anything.

"Home is meant to be where we feel safest. People wake up every morning feeling trapped and it's affecting a very very large number of people.

"It is scandalous that over three years after Grenfell, so many people are living in homes that they are told are a fire risk."

But another crisis has emerged as a result of building owners wanting to know if their buildings are safe.

In December 2019, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) created a system to certify building safety and allow flats to still be sold.

It's call an External Wall System survey (EWS1) and is for buildings of over 18 metres.

But in January 2020 new government advice suddenly moved away from the 18-metre height. It now stated building owners should check the safety of buildings “of any height”.

This change had the effect of exponentially increasing the demand for EWS1 and has led to potentially millions of people left unable to sell without one, included in hundreds of thousands of flats under 18m.

                                                                                                                                                                                             Despite the fact the MHCLG said they "do not support a blanket approach to the use of EWS1 forms on buildings", a recent survey from the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership shows three-quarters of 663 residents who wanted to sell in the last year had a sale fall through or did not try because they had no EWS1.

It also reported just 860 of these forms have been filled out so far. There are an estimated 5.6 million flats in England and Wales.

Matt Hodges-Long, who set up the Building Safety Register in June 2019 said he thinks there could be only around "100 surveyors who will realistically be completing these forms."

He said: "There has to be an alternative, otherwise people could be trapped in flats for years and years.

"These forms were never created for buildings under 18m but the impact of Grenfell has meant no one knows if buildings are safe."

The research also showed that 80-90% of these forms come back showing some sort of problem with the safety of the building.

Furthermore, if the surveys show remediation works should be carried out, the £1 billion government fund does not cover any buildings under 18m.

And currently, the most likely result is the cost will fall to leaseholders.

As a result cladding actions groups around the UK, including Leeds Cladding Action, Manchester Cladiators, UKCAG, Birmingham Leaseholder Action Group and many more have said they are having more and more people turn to them every day.

One woman, who wanted to remain anonymous has only just found out her London building is completely unsafe.

She said: "I feel suicidal.

"We have just had a baby. We purposely waited until our 30s – so we had good jobs, a solid income and a home of our own – yet are now trapped in a highly flammable building during a global pandemic.

"I can’t enjoy time with my baby because I am either in a state of panic – about how safe our home is – or I am spending every spare second fighting this.

"I feel like my and my child’s future is at risk. All based on something that is not remotely our fault."

Gulcan Yimaz also lives in a London block, recently found to have flammable cladding.

He said: " I can’t sleep from worry. Because of COVID-19 I could lose my job any day now, and when that happens I won’t be able to pay my mortgage or sell my flat.

"Because of cladding, I will end up losing everything I have worked for."

MP Hilary Benn said this has to be treated like a crisis. In response to our #ClearTheCladding Campaign he said: "The solution has to be to take the cladding off the buildings, put in the missing fire breaks and do this as quickly as possible.

"Whoever is responsible, and there has been failure on many levels, it is not the fault of the leaseholders.

"It is not right and it is not fair that they should have to pay for the mistakes of the past and the present."

A spokesperson from the MHCLG said: "We’re determined to ensure residents are safe, and feel safe, in their homes and are providing £1.6bn to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding.

"Building owners have a legal responsibility to ensure their buildings are safe and must ensure that any remaining buildings have started remediation works before the end of this year – if we do not see progress we will not hesitate to take further action.

"The Building Safety fund has moved from registration to application stage. Its purpose is to enable faster remediation of buildings while protecting leaseholders from unaffordable costs to replace unsafe cladding."

Are you stuck in an unsafe building? Get in touch through our Twitter or email and follow #ClearTheCladding

The full PAC report can be read here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmpubacc/406/406.pdf