Fire safety defects (1)

No leaseholder deserves to pay for mistakes they did not cause. The building safety crisis is a systemic problem, grounded in a flawed regulatory system that was sanctioned by government and that has, in many ways, benefitted industry. As such, it is government’s and industry’s responsibility to pay to solve this crisis.

The most immediate step government needs to take is to commit to fully funding remediation works for buildings where cladding and non-cladding issues pose serious fire and life safety risks. This will ensure that remediation is not delayed by lack of funding. The government can then claim back costs from industry through funding mechanisms targeting developers, such as the developer levy I called for in December 2020, a less ambitious version of which was subsequently announced by ministers.