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Survey finds that 90% of leaseholders think government has been ‘no help’ in cladding crisis

Ninety per cent of leaseholders living in homes with dangerous cladding think the government has proved to be “no help at all” in supporting those affected, a major survey of affected residents has revealed.

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Majority of leaseholders think government has been “no help” in cladding crisis, survey finds #ukhousing

Damning survey reveals leaseholders hit by cladding issues feel abandoned by ministers #ukhousing

MPs lay bare the scale of the leasehold cladding problem in a Westminster Hall debate #ukhousing

A survey by the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership (LKP) found that none of the 177 respondents, from 117 different sites affected by issues with cladding, thought the government has done a good job to solve the issue.

It came as a debate in parliament on Wednesday saw MPs lay bare the scale of the problem.

More than half of the respondents said they were “very unhappy” with the way building safety issues were being addressed at their site, and 62% have used a waking watch since the Grenfell Tower fire. Of those, 86% said the waking watch is still in place.

The survey results were published as MPs from both sides of the house gathered to debate the plight of thousands of leaseholders trapped in flats clad with dangerous materials, who are unable to sell or remortgage.

Many of them are facing enormous bills of up to £100,000 each for remediation work because the cladding on their buildings does not fall under that covered by the government’s removal fund, or because the freeholder of the building refusing to foot the bill.

Fleur Anderson, MP for Putney, said during the debate: “To make leaseholders foot the bill for this is outrageous. They’re not multimillionaire landlords, they are normal people.”


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Almost every respondents to the LKP survey said they had been offered no financial options by their landlord to help pay to correct cladding issues.

And 82% said they were aware of someone at their site who had been unable to sell their flat because their buyer was not able to obtain a loan as a direct result of cladding issues.

The government fund for removal only covers aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. Only 16% of respondents said they had ACM or ACM plus other materials on the outside of their buildings, while 54% said they had non-ACM cladding.

Hilary Benn, who had called the Westminster Hall debate, said that extending the fund to all types of dangerous cladding was “the only fair way forward and the only way of meeting the objective of removing all unsafe cladding”.

Around a third of those surveyed said they still did not know what cladding they had.

Croydon MP Sarah Jones during the debate cited an Inside Housing report which found that councils are struggling to identify dangerous materials on the outside of tower blocks, with 70% of buildings still unidentified three months ahead of a government deadline to provide the data.

A number of MPs told stories of residents facing five-figure bills for cladding work, as well as people whose lives had been put on hold because they could not sell their home.

Vauxhall MP Florence Eshalomi said: “In just a couple of months I’ve had so many cases brought to my attention of constituents who are unable to sell or remortgage and have been unable to get the safety certificates from their freeholders.”

West Ham MP Lyn Brown revealed she was dealing with 31 separate cases, one of which concerned 57 people.

Housing minister Esther McVey said the government was aware of the “stress and anguish” the situation was causing leaseholders.

“What today absolutely impresses upon us is the speed at which things have to be done,” she said. “We do have to have a bigger consultation and ensure that we meet with leaseholders.”

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