Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his policy is on the protection for leaseholders from (a) cladding and (b) non-cladding remediation costs for leaseholders who live in a building managed by the residents and leaseholders themselves.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 apply equally to buildings which are managed by a right to manage (RTM) company or resident management company (RMC) as they do to buildings which are not. Buildings are only exempt from the leaseholder protections measures if the building is collectively owned by the residents, such as in a building where the residents have collectively enfranchised to purchase the freehold.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his policy is on the protection for leaseholders from (a) cladding and (b) non-cladding remediation costs for leaseholders who live in a building managed by a Right to Manage company.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 apply equally to buildings which are managed by a right to manage (RTM) company or resident management company (RMC) as they do to buildings which are not. Buildings are only exempt from the leaseholder protections measures if the building is collectively owned by the residents, such as in a building where the residents have collectively enfranchised to purchase the freehold.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether it is his policy that protection for leaseholders from (a) cladding and (b) non-cladding remediation costs cover leaseholders who live in a building that is managed by a resident management company to which they pay a service charge.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 apply equally to buildings which are managed by a right to manage (RTM) company or resident management company (RMC) as they do to buildings which are not. Buildings are only exempt from the leaseholder protections measures if the building is collectively owned by the residents, such as in a building where the residents have collectively enfranchised to purchase the freehold.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help ensure developers who have not yet signed the building safety pledge do so.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
45 of the largest developers have now signed the pledge. The Department is in discussions with further developers that we believe should sign the pledge, and this work will continue. The Secretary of State has made clear that he expects all companies to do the right thing, and that we will pursue those who fail to do so. We intend to establish a Responsible Actors Scheme that will make sure that any companies that fail to do the right thing face significant commercial and reputational consequences. The Department has established a recovery unit that will pursue irresponsible actors through the courts if necessary.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions his Department has had with developers who have not yet signed the building safety repairs pledge.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
45 of the largest developers have now signed the pledge. The Department is in discussions with further developers that we believe should sign the pledge, and this work will continue. The Secretary of State has made clear that he expects all companies to do the right thing, and that we will pursue those who fail to do so. We intend to establish a Responsible Actors Scheme that will make sure that any companies that fail to do the right thing face significant commercial and reputational consequences. The Department has established a recovery unit that will pursue irresponsible actors through the courts if necessary.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of developers who have not signed the Government’s building safety repairs pledge.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
45 of the largest developers have now signed the pledge. The Department is in discussions with further developers that we believe should sign the pledge, and this work will continue. The Secretary of State has made clear that he expects all companies to do the right thing, and that we will pursue those who fail to do so. We intend to establish a Responsible Actors Scheme that will make sure that any companies that fail to do the right thing face significant commercial and reputational consequences. The Department has established a recovery unit that will pursue irresponsible actors through the courts if necessary.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether a developer is responsible for paying for cladding remediation of a building in a case where it was not the building’s developer at the time of its construction but has since acquired the original developer.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Yes, we expect developers to take responsibility for any building developed by any company within their corporate group, including cases where they acquired the original developer of the building.
45 of the largest developers have now signed a pledge to:
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to ensure that ongoing cladding remediation works are not delayed in cases where leaseholders cannot afford to pay upfront capital costs.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Building Safety Act 2022 protects leaseholders in buildings above 11 metres in height or with at least five storeys from costs associated with historical building safety defects. A leaseholder qualifies for the protections if, on 14 February 2022, the property was their principal home, or if they owned no more than three UK properties in total. The protections automatically transfer to future buyers if a lease is sold.
Those responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. That is why, where the building is owned by the developer of the building, or the building owner is linked to the developer, the no costs related to historical defects can be passed to any leaseholders; including commercial leaseholders. If the building owner is not linked to the developer, commercial leaseholders can be charged for their full share of remediation works, as per the terms of their lease.
Qualifying leaseholders will be fully protected in law from cladding costs. In addition, the costs for remediation of non-cladding defects and interim measures like waking watches are subject to a firm cap. Once the leaseholder caps have been reached, landlords will be unable to demand further contributions from leaseholders. Landlords will be required to provide detailed evidence to leaseholders that they are entitled to pass on costs. The Government is clear that landlords who attempt to continue charging leaseholders once the caps have been met will be breaking the law and we will not hesitate to use all possible levers to hold rogue actors to account.
The Government has agreed with 45 residential property developers that they will fix life-critical fire safety defects, including cladding, in all buildings above 11 metres that they had a role in developing or refurbishing in the past 30 years. Where a responsible developer cannot be identified, grant funding from either the Building Safety Fund or the new 11-18 metre remediation fund will cover the costs of fixing unsafe cladding.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the proposals on building safety announced on 14 February 2022, what steps he is taking to ensure that those leaseholders who have already paid their allowance towards the non-cladding defects cap are not pursued for further payments.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Building Safety Act 2022 protects leaseholders in buildings above 11 metres in height or with at least five storeys from costs associated with historical building safety defects. A leaseholder qualifies for the protections if, on 14 February 2022, the property was their principal home, or if they owned no more than three UK properties in total. The protections automatically transfer to future buyers if a lease is sold.
Those responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. That is why, where the building is owned by the developer of the building, or the building owner is linked to the developer, the no costs related to historical defects can be passed to any leaseholders; including commercial leaseholders. If the building owner is not linked to the developer, commercial leaseholders can be charged for their full share of remediation works, as per the terms of their lease.
Qualifying leaseholders will be fully protected in law from cladding costs. In addition, the costs for remediation of non-cladding defects and interim measures like waking watches are subject to a firm cap. Once the leaseholder caps have been reached, landlords will be unable to demand further contributions from leaseholders. Landlords will be required to provide detailed evidence to leaseholders that they are entitled to pass on costs. The Government is clear that landlords who attempt to continue charging leaseholders once the caps have been met will be breaking the law and we will not hesitate to use all possible levers to hold rogue actors to account.
The Government has agreed with 45 residential property developers that they will fix life-critical fire safety defects, including cladding, in all buildings above 11 metres that they had a role in developing or refurbishing in the past 30 years. Where a responsible developer cannot be identified, grant funding from either the Building Safety Fund or the new 11-18 metre remediation fund will cover the costs of fixing unsafe cladding.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure that commercial leaseholders pay their share of the costs of remediation works on buildings for which they hold a commercial lease.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Building Safety Act 2022 protects leaseholders in buildings above 11 metres in height or with at least five storeys from costs associated with historical building safety defects. A leaseholder qualifies for the protections if, on 14 February 2022, the property was their principal home, or if they owned no more than three UK properties in total. The protections automatically transfer to future buyers if a lease is sold.
Those responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. That is why, where the building is owned by the developer of the building, or the building owner is linked to the developer, then no costs related to historical defects can be passed to any leaseholders; including commercial leaseholders. If the building owner is not linked to the developer, commercial leaseholders can be charged for their full share of remediation works, as per the terms of their lease.
Qualifying leaseholders will be fully protected in law from cladding costs. In addition, the costs for remediation of non-cladding defects and interim measures like waking watches are subject to a firm cap. Once the leaseholder caps have been reached, landlords will be unable to demand further contributions from leaseholders. Landlords will be required to provide detailed evidence to leaseholders that they are entitled to pass on costs. The Government is clear that landlords who attempt to continue charging leaseholders once the caps have been met will be breaking the law and we will not hesitate to use all possible levers to hold rogue actors to account.
The Government has agreed with 45 residential property developers that they will fix life-critical fire safety defects, including cladding, in all buildings above 11 metres that they had a role in developing or refurbishing in the past 30 years. Where a responsible developer cannot be identified, grant funding from either the Building Safety Fund or the new 11-18 metre remediation fund will cover the costs of fixing unsafe cladding.