Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
Paragraph: 45
Necessary fire safety work imposes significant additional costs on social housing providers.
Conclusion
Necessary fire safety work has resulted in significant additional costs for social housing providers, as the Government has acknowledged in its written evidence.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government describes existing regulatory standards and inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) that ensure social housing providers have appropriate expertise and financial management capabilities to handle complex issues, without committing to new action regarding additional fire safety costs.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
45
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
However, the sector also faces significant financial pressures, as the committee notes in its report. These include necessary expenditure on existing stock to ensure this meets safety, quality and energy efficiency expectations and the increasing cost of capital as a result of higher interest rates which impacts the sector’s ability to build new homes for future tenants. London and other urban areas, where large numbers of flats need building safety works, are seeing the strongest financial pressures... Higher than expected interest rates, building and fire safety remediation costs, the increased volume and cost of repairs, and the impact of the rent cap mean that previously projected recovery in interest cover in landlords’ business plans has consistently failed to materialise.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗