A number of residents have contacted me with concerns about leaseholders being forced to meet the cost of remedial cladding works.

New checks on homes since the Grenfell Tower fire in London, which killed 72 people in 2017, have laid bare decades of poor building practices and defective materials. This has left at least 3 million people across the UK living in homes which are deemed unsafe. With developers, insurers and owners having gone into bankruptcy or refusing to take responsibility, leaseholders have been left to cover the cost of remediation. Nationally, this could be as much as £16 billion or an average of £50,000 per householder.

As 66 residents of the Landmark in Bexhill at one point faced the possibility of meeting the cost of remedial cladding work through no fault of their own, this is an issue I take extremely seriously. 

I am of the view that if someone is unfortunate to buy a car, and it was found not to be safe when it was sold, the manufacturers would have to fix it or replace it. The same recompense should be provided by those responsible for selling new homes which were nowhere near the standards expected of them, so I put my name to an amednment to the Fire Safety Bill which sought to prevent resident from holding the responsibility of these costs. 

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has recently expanded their Building Safety Fund to ensure all residents of buildings over 18 metres or six stories do not have to meet remedial cladding costs. 

Following very positive engagement with MHCLG, I am satisfied that my residents will not be forced to meet these costs. Indeed at a recent meeting, I was relieved to be informed that the Landmark has made good progress in their application for the Building Safety Fund and is firmly towards the front of the queue for funding.

The Landmark and Oakfield their managing agents have been working a pace with Homes England to complete their application, ascertain whether their cavity barriers and fire breaks are part of the external wall system (which is covered by the Building Safety Fund) and start the tendering process to bring forward a clear specification of materials to be used in the replacement. The Landmark has also begun receiving funding from the Waking Watch Relief Fund to install alarm systems in the building.

It is for this reason that I removed my name from the Fire Safety Bill Amendment, and also because I believe that working to defeat the Department would not sustain the good faith partnership that has seen such positive progress made locally.