Cladding safety work 'needs target date to stop residents living with fear of fire'

Thousands of people living in buildings with dangerous cladding should be a given a target date for when their homes will be made safe, says Whitehall's spending watchdog.

Between 9,000 and 12,000 buildings are expected to need their cladding dealt with, at a cost of around £16bn.

However, more than 7,200 of those buildings are yet to be identified and some may never be, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

It warned work to make all those buildings safe may not be achieved in the next decade, leaving residents "living with the fear of fire and costly bills".

The NAO report, published today, said the impacts of dangerous cladding "have extended far beyond the immediate victims of the Grenfell fire, with many people suffering significant financial and emotional distress".

Although the Building Safety Act 2022 means most leaseholders don't have to pay for remediation costs, many have seen hikes in service charges because of increased insurance premiums, struggled to get mortgages and are unable to move home, according to the report.

Some are also paying for "waking watches" to patrol buildings while waiting for cladding to be removed, with an average cost of £104 a month per home.

In the seven years since the Grenfell Tower fire claimed the lives of 72 people, campaigners have repeatedly criticised the slow process of remediation work.

Of the 4,821 buildings already identified as needing work, only half had either started or completed remediation works.

"Pace has been a persistent concern and remediation within the portfolio is progressing more slowly than [the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government (MHCLG)] expected," said the NAO report.

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The department estimates cladding remediation will be completed by 2035, but the NAO warned this will be "challenging to achieve".

It also warned taxpayer costs need to be kept down to meet the £5.1bn cap set by the government, and building developers would need to pay.

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Their contributions aren't expected to be collected until next autumn under a new levy.

"Putting the onus on developers to pay and introducing a more proportionate approach to remediation should help to protect taxpayers' money. Yet it has also created grounds for dispute, causing delays," said Gareth Davies, head of the NAO.

"To stick to its £5.1bn cap in the long run, MHCLG needs to ensure that it can recoup funds through successful implementation of the proposed Building Safety Levy."