Government wins first legal battle under Building Safety Act against freeholder owned by multibillion-pound pension fund

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) launched the action in October 2022, after what officials described as “unacceptable delays” in fixing fire safety issues, which had first been identified on the tower in 2019.

When it began proceedings, DLUHC said that leaseholders in the tower had been sent service charge bills for hundreds of thousands of pounds for cladding remediation and had been unable to sell their homes.

Grey GR had argued that the government’s decision to change building safety standards in 2022 had delayed the fixes.

In his decision on 29 April, judge David Wyatt concluded “there has been delay on both sides” in the context of the “sea change” in high-rise fire safety regulation in recent years.

Nonetheless, he ruled in favour of the government and will issue a legally binding remediation order on Grey GR to fix the issues within a specific timeframe.

Grey GR said it completed internal safety works on Vista Tower in 2023 and began external cladding remediation in January 2024.

The government is also seeking remediation orders on a further five Grey GR buildings that have or will be going to trial over the next year, including The Chocolate Box in Bournemouth where Grey has now started remediation works.

The government has also already secured four remediation orders against freeholder Wallace Estates.

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove said the case “should serve as a warning to all building owners”.

“If you fail to fix your unsafe buildings and ensure the safety of residents, we will see you in court,” he said. “We will not stop until we secure justice for leaseholders.”

Mr Gove added: “Leaseholders have lived with uncertainty for far too long while Grey GR delayed essential works to make homes safe.”

He said it was “hugely disappointing” that Railpen has “kept leaseholders in limbo” in this way. “Railway workers with their pensions invested in this fund, as well as innocent leaseholders, deserve better.”

Sophie Bichener, a leaseholder in Vista Tower, said: “This gives leaseholders the reassurance we deserve and is the closest we have been to regaining our freedom after what has been an extremely difficult few years.”

She said the remediation order “will have a huge impact on our lives and we hope our involvement in this case will bring hope to many others who are waiting for their freeholders to do the right thing”.

Grey GR said it was committed to completing the remediation of Vista Tower by September 2025 and the remediation order would not change this timeline.

A Grey GR spokesperson said: “The safety of residents has been and remains Grey GR’s utmost priority.”

It said the remediation order provided an additional “backstop to give reassurance” to leaseholders but was “not a fault-based order”.

It continued: “We have faced numerous delays during the remediation process in our attempts to seek the clarity needed from DLUHC to proceed at pace with remediation. 

“We have engaged extensively with the government throughout where it has been possible to do so, but have been met with slow – and in some cases no – responses to our enquiries, constantly changing deadlines and requirements, and a frequent moving of goalposts.

“Following the decision, we hope we can move forward and continue to be a part of the solution to an issue that was not of our making and provide leaseholders with safer homes.”

In a similar case from February, the owner of London’s Olympic Park appealed a tribunal ruling that hit it with an £18m fire safety bill.

Update: at 12.29pm, 10.05.24

The article was updated to correct the nature of the remediation order. This is a remediation order to fix the building, not a remediation contribution order seeking to recover the funds. It means that Grey GR has a legally mandated timeframe by which it must complete the works, but government funding will remain in place.