Greg Clark, new Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), has told developers that they must sign formal contracts to remediate unsafe cladding within the next four weeks.
As of mid-June, 47 developers had signed the pledge put before them by former Housing Secretary Michael Gove. The contracts sent by Mr Clark will “help turn these pledges into legally binding commitments”, he said.
Developers are also getting to grips with further commitments under the Building Safety Act, which came into force on 28th June 2022, at which point it became an offence to pass on costs for cladding and building remediation to leaseholders. The Act states that building owners must now draw on their own capital, the Building Safety Fund, or contributions from the industry levy to fix unsafe buildings which are 11 metres or taller.
The industry levy was doubled down upon by Mr Clark – despite developers’ known opposition. He said:
“The taxpayer is contributing £5bn towards fixing those buildings which have been left orphaned by absentee developers: the industry must pay its share too.”
Mr Clark also intends to target developers who have yet to sign up to the pledge which a new recovery unit, the aim of which will be to attempt to recoup cladding costs:
“For those large developers yet to commit to doing the right thing, it is time to step up and be prepared to pay up. As we identify more developers responsible for fire safety defects in buildings, I expect them to follow suit and take responsibility for repairs – and to do so quickly.”
Liam Spender, End Our Cladding Scandal, said:
“The fallout from the Government meltdown last week continues to worry leaseholders everywhere.
Cladding and fire safety issues will not go away until we see the promise of the pledges translated into signed contracts. The Government must then keep up the pressure on the construction industry to ensure those contracts are enforced to the letter.”
