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Morning Briefing: leaseholders charged for fire safety improvements

The Times reports that leaseholders in blocks with Grenfell-style cladding are being charged for fire safety work, and Labour plans to force the government to publish Universal Credit reports

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Picture: Getty
Picture: Getty
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Morning Briefing: “thousands” of leaseholders billed for fire safety work #ukhousing

Morning Briefing: Labour seeks to force publication of Universal Credit reports #ukhousing

Morning Briefing: HDV opposition is anti-aspirational, says Times columnist #ukhousing

In the news

The Times has today published the results of an investigation showing thousands of leaseholders in private blocks are being billed tens of thousands of pounds for fire safety improvements to their blocks following the Grenfell Tower disaster last June.

The newspaper says leaseholders at up to 100 private developments are facing bills.

The report comes a day after communities secretary Sajid Javid told parliament that private landlords should not be passing on the cost of cladding removal to leaseholders.

As Inside Housing reported yesterday, Mr Javid said he wants private block owners “to follow the lead of the social sector” and not pass on the costs of fire safety work to residents.

Inside Housing is aware of a number of councils looking to charge leaseholders for sprinkler installation, including Wandsworth Council in London.

The Times also has a story today about fire wardens being found asleep on the job at private blocks.


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Javid: private landlords should not charge leaseholders for cladding workJavid: private landlords should not charge leaseholders for cladding work

Elsewhere, today is opposition day in the House of Commons, meaning Labour gets to set the agenda governing what is debated.

Jeremy Corbyn’s party is reportedly planning to table a binding vote to force the government to release internal reports about its Universal Credit welfare reform programme.

Universal Credit is intended to combine several working age benefits into one payment made directly to households. However, campaigners and many social landlords are concerned that the payment mechanisms under the scheme are leading to increased household debt.

Labour hopes that forcing the government to release internal reports will strengthen the opposition’s call to “pause and fix” the policy.

In a piece published by Inside Housing yesterday, Hayley Macnamara, policy manager at Community Housing Cymru, suggested several possible changes to the Universal Credit policy.

In a stock market report today, Mears, a major social housing repairs contractor, has said its housing revenues have “softened further” following a short-term impact as clients focused on safety following Grenfell. There are no figures or further detail in the update.

Also in The Times today is an opinion piece by Rachel Sylvester. The political journalist suggests the opposition to the Haringey Development Vehicle, which Inside Housing has written about, is ideological and driven by the left-wing Momentum group.

She writes: “‘Gentrification’ has become an insult for the Corbynistas… the public school lefties who now run the Labour Party condemn the whole idea of aspiration.”

The Guardian this morning has run a piece by Mitch Menagh, director of homelessness services at the Salvation Army, arguing that supported housing funding should not be made discretionary.

Finally, Polly Toynbee has written a piece marking the 75th anniversary of the Beveridge Report – which was seen as a blueprint for Britain’s post-War welfare state – arguing that nowadays we condemn the poor.

On social media

IT professional Paul Smith takes aim at social housing jargon:

What’s on

  • An Opposition Day debate on Universal Credit will take place in the House of Commons from 11.30am
  • The first of the Chartered Institute of Housing’s (CIH) Big Housing Debate event takes place in Manchester
  • The CIH Older People’s Housing Conference takes place in Swansea
  • The National Housing Federation is hosting a webinar about supported housing funding from 3.30pm
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