Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 16
16
The Government should table new amendments to the Building Safety Bill to ensure that, where...
Recommendation
The Government should table new amendments to the Building Safety Bill to ensure that, where the “polluter(s)” still exist, industry players must compensate leaseholders for remediation and interim costs already paid out and must pay for works that have been started or specified. In line with principles already set out by Government, where the original polluter no longer exists or cannot be identified, funding for building safety remediation—ideally our recommended Comprehensive Building Safety Fund—should cover the costs of compensating leaseholders for costs already paid out, including interim measures and exorbitant rises in insurance premiums. The additional costs for leaseholders generated by increases in insurance premiums are another reason why insurers should be required to contribute to funds for building 34 Building Safety: Remediation and Funding safety remediation. (Paragraph 40) Impact on social housing
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Building Safety Act makes it a legal requirement for building owners to exhaust all other routes to fund essential building safety work before passing any costs onto leaseholders. We have been in intensive talks since January with the homebuilding sector to come forward with proposals on how it will take responsibility for fixing unsafe buildings built over the past 30 years. As well as making clear that no qualifying leaseholder in a building over 11 metres or five storeys will have to pay for the costs of remediating defective cladding, the Building Safety Act 2022 requires that where the freeholder or landlord of a building is, or is associated with, the developer or where they have sufficient resources, they should pay to fix all historical safety defects, including non-cladding defects and interim measures. While the Government will not repay leaseholders for the costs of work already undertaken the caps for leaseholder contributions to non-cladding costs in building above 11 metres will take into account costs that leaseholders have already incurred for remediation or interim measures. As such where leaseholders have already contributed to the costs of remediation it is highly unlikely that they will face for any further costs. Leaseholders will also be able to utilise the Government’s new measures expanding the Defective Premises Act and our measures relating to construction product manufacturers to recover costs from those responsible.