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Government indicates extra protections for shared owners hit by cladding costs
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has hinted that shared owners will be protected from high cladding remediation bills.
Announcing a further £3.5bn to remove dangerous cladding from buildings today, Mr Jenrick alluded to measures to specifically protect shared owners from mounting costs.
Currently, shared owners who own only a percentage of their home are forced to pay 100% of the property’s service charge, as a result of leasehold law.
Inside Housing has previously reported that some housing association shared owners who own only 25% of their homes have been threatened with bills covering 100% of the costs of waking watches and remedial works.
Mr Jenrick said: “The government is acutely aware of the challenges faced by shared owners, and we’re going to make particular provision to protect them so that they don’t have to meet disproportionate costs with regards to cladding remediation.”
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The secretary of state did not expand on the plans targeted at shared owners, some of whom have been facing bills of tens of thousands of pounds.
Mr Jenrick also implied that no extra funding would be forthcoming for councils and housing associations to deal with remediation, and acknowledged that this will make it difficult for landlords to meet development aims and improve energy efficiency of existing housing stock.
He told the House of Commons: “We did provide funding to support to the sector, and we have focused that funding on councils and housing associations who cannot fund this themselves, either through their own reserves or ability to borrow. Most housing associations can do that but there will be a small number that can’t.
“Of course, there are choices within this and that in itself will have consequences and that will make it harder for those housing associations to invest more in affordable and social housing and other important aims they and I share, like making those buildings more energy efficient. That’s the difficult situation we find ourselves in.”
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “We are still very concerned about the impact of covering remediation costs on social housing providers and their residents; people who are so far forgotten in this crisis and for whom there is no funding.
“Not-for-profit social housing providers estimate they will have to spend in excess of £10bn to make all their buildings safe. This money is being diverted away from providing services and maintaining the homes of people on the lowest incomes in this country as well as building new affordable homes for those in need.”
Clare Miller, chief executive of Clarion Housing Group, the country’s largest housing association, also highlighted the difficult situation for social landlords.
She said: “Clarion has invested £60m into our fire safety programme since 2017 and completed inspections on more than 70 of our buildings.
“We will continue to invest in this programme, but housing associations cannot bear the burden without a significant impact on our ability to build and maintain much-needed affordable housing.”
