Leeds homeowners set to tell Housing Secretary new Grenfell cladding laws aren't working
Campaigners who've been fighting for years for Grenfell-style cladding to be removed from their buildings will meet Michael Gove later
Homeowners in Leeds who've spent years fighting for Grenfell-style cladding to be removed from their buildings are set to meet Housing Secretary Michael Gove later.
They're expected to tell him new laws designed to stop freehold owners and developers from passing on removal costs to leaseholders aren't working.
The Government passed the Building Safety Act in 2022, which it said would deliver "far-reaching protections for qualifying leaseholders" and "an ambitious toolkit of measures" allowing those responsible for building safety defects to be held to account.
But developers have been accused of "dragging their feet", with one leaseholder in Leeds claiming the bills are still arriving at her door.
Rachael Loftus, who bought her flat for £80,000 in 2008, said: "Every day that goes by I'm spending more and more money.
"The developers and the freeholders were always about profit before people and are just in no rush whatsoever to put the situation right.
"Unless they are forced to by Government, they won't listen to people like me".
Today's talks comes off the back of another meeting in March, in which Leeds MP Hillary Benn asked leaseholders if they had a clear plan or timetable for their building to be made safe.
When few said they did, Housing Secretary Michael Gove told Mr. Benn he would visit Leeds to speak to those affected.
Greatest Hits Radio and Pulse 1 has asked the Department for Housing for a comment ahead of the visit, but has not yet received a reply.