15th
Feb 2022
In January Housing Secretary Michael Gove announced the government intends to ensure developers are made to pay for remedial action in replacing dangerous cladding on buildings between 11 and 18 metres.
However a national trade body criticises Gove’s statement because he also said that the government has yet to decide upon whether BTL landlords will be able to apply to the scheme with the trade body saying the full announcement is: “riddled with confusion and risks needless delays.”
The trade body is determined that BTL landlord leaseholders must be treated the same as all leaseholders as Gove also said that anyone who sublets an apartment/flat in properties with dangerous cladding, will be eligible to take part in the scheme.
Currently landlords at the current time are not being included but ‘accidental landlords’ potentially are, the trade body criticises the government deciding upon whether a landlord is classed as an ‘accidental’ or not in which case ‘the nots’ may be declined support, and the decision process over the differentiation will only further delay replacing the life threatening cladding.
The trade body’s spokesman says: “It makes no sense to be treating leaseholders who are landlords so differently to owner-occupiers.
“Both groups have faced the same problems, and both should be treated equally. We are calling on the government to rectify this injustice as a matter of urgency.”
A DLUHC spokesperson says: “We are bringing this scandal to an end – protecting leaseholders and making industry pay.
“It is not right that innocent leaseholders – including those who have moved out and now sublet their properties – should pay to remove dangerous cladding for which they were not responsible.
“We will explore whether this support should extend to other leaseholders, such as BTL landlords.”
Richard Merrick of PIMS, says: “There is indeed a Government Landlord Segregation policy when it comes to funding ….as in their own words they said that any leaseholder in such a predicament should not have to pay for cladding reform.
“As they haven’t yet decided whether private landlord leaseholders are included as in all probability those classed as ‘non-accidental landlords’ will be excluded from the ‘any’s’ available funding.
“We all live in hope which at times can be ‘slightly’ misguided, not forgetting the next step will be rent controls to be ‘appraised’ by the self-crowned ‘PRS Parliamentary Experts’.”
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