Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 14
14
Accepted
Leaseholders continue to face significant, 'life-changing' costs for non-cladding fire safety defects.
Recommendation
We asked MHCLG about what it was doing to support residents with non– cladding defects. MHCLG told us that it was developing a new standard with the British Standards Institute to give the sector more certainty over what work needed to be done to address non–cladding issues. It told us that owner-occupiers were protected from the costs of non-cladding defects, but that freeholders may have to meet them.20 Following the evidence session, EOCS wrote to us and reiterated situations where leaseholders were not protected.21 In written evidence, EOCS told us that non–cladding defects such as internal compartmentation, fire-stopping, fire doors or structural defects were defined as “life-critical” under the developer remediation contract and that costs to remediate them would be met by the developer. However, it told us that life-critical non-cladding defects were not within scope for buildings remediated through the government funded programmes, noting that the developer contract covered only 15–20% of all estimated buildings to be remediated.22 As the NAO’s report set out, where problems fall outside the scope of government programmes, costs may be passed on to leaseholders, who may be unable to afford them. The NAO’s report noted that the amount that could be charged to leaseholders was 17 Qq 1, 2 18 RDC0099, Written evidence submitted by the National Fire Chiefs Council, 4 February 2025 19 RDC0003, Written evidence submitted by The Property Institute, 4 February 2025 20 Q 46 21 Letter from End Our Cladding Scandal to Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, 17 February 2025 22 Q 1; RDC0145, Written evidence submitted by End Our Cladding Scandal, 4 February 2025 13 normally capped at £15,000 within Greater London and £10,000 elsewhere. EOCS told us in its letter that such costs were “life-changing” for most ordinary people, and they would not consider themselves “protected.” 23
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will publish an updated Remediation Acceleration Plan in Autumn 2025. This update will include commitments to removing blockers to accelerate remediation, address non-cladding defects, and strengthen legislation to enforce the fixing of internal and external fire safety issues.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2025 The government is working to publish an update of the Remediation Acceleration Plan in Summer 2025; however, this is dependent on the outcome of the 2025 Spending Review. The update to the Committee will dovetail with this work, and therefore an update will be provided in Autumn 2025. The update will address the (i) policy and legislative changes required to implement the Remediation Acceleration Plan and (iii) progress in identifying buildings with dangerous cladding. For (ii), the government has not seen significant evidence that non-cladding defects are slowing down remediation. It is however committed to removing blockers to accelerate remediation and this will be included in the Autumn update. For (iv), legislation exists that addresses the enforcement of internal and external fire safety defects. The government has however seen a need to strengthen legislation to make enforcement of cladding remediation more effective. It is therefore working towards creating a legal duty on those responsible for buildings at or above 11 metres to take the necessary steps to fix their buildings within clear timescales. An update will be included in the Autumn response.