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Leaseholders across the country could face fire safety bills in ‘tens of thousands’
Leaseholders “up and down the country” face paying “tens of thousands of pounds” to cover the cost of fire safety work in tower blocks, a body representing property managers has warned.
Dr Nigel Glen, chief executive of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), said the situation faced by leaseholders in a south London tower block is “not unique”. Leaseholders in Citiscape tower block in Croydon have been told they could be forced to pay a £2m bill to cover the removal and replacement of cladding.
Leaseholders could also face “lengthy legal battles” over who should pay for the fire safety work, Dr Glen said. ARMA is proposing that the government provides interest-free loans to leaseholders to cover the cost of the work to avoid safety being “compromised” by any delays in removing the dangerous cladding.
ARMA has identified 12 privately owned tower blocks where aluminium composite material cladding has failed government tests and has warned that in the absence of “alternative funding” it is “likely” leaseholders will be legally liable to pay for the fire safety work, which could lead to bills of tens of thousands of pounds per leaseholder.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been approached for comment.
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The organisation said it immediately flagged its concerns with government over who would be responsible for paying for fire safety work when it came to leasehold properties. Dr Glen added: “ARMA has lobbied government to understand the time-sensitive costs and the burden it could place on leaseholders.”
The government has said private landlords should not pass the costs of fire safety work to leaseholders, but Dr Glen said there is “no suggestion that anyone has acted inappropriately or cut corners”.
Instead, he said building control departments had approved and signed off the various types of cladding at the time “and have only now tested those very systems and found them unsuitable”.
Sajid Javid, speaking on LBC earlier today, said "the moral case is clear" that the freeholder should pay for the removals.
Adrian McClinton, associate solicitor at Coffin Mew, said the “vast majority” of leaseholders will be liable for the cost of replacing cladding and the government “may want to put aside funds” to loan to leaseholders to cover the upfront costs of replacing cladding “which can be paid back over time”.
Update 5.05pm : In an LBC phone-in this afternoon housing secretary Sajid Javid said the freeholder of Citiscape in Croydon, Proxima GR Properties, has been "wholly unreasonable" and the freeholder should bear the costs of the cladding work.
