By Harry Scoffin
As the flats market grinds to a halt because of a government directive on combustibles, the blaze that engulfed a student block in Bolton on Friday – risking the lives of 300 students and firefighters – has brought building safety regulations and the government’s approach to the cladding crisis under fierce new scrutiny.
The current position, that government will only provide financial support to remove Grenfell-style ACM cladding from privately-owned blocks while residents in buildings wrapped with equally deadly materials must be left to fend for themselves and at the mercy of absentee freeholders, now looks very wobbly.
LKP believes that the leasehold system with its speculative and hidden owners of building income streams will not survive the fallout from this scandal:
Grenfell cladding scandal: Have 600,000 ‘mortgage prisoners’ destroyed the leasehold system?
Third-party freeholders are NOT paternalistic long-term custodians of a building.
The history of leasehold reform shows that no amount of new legislation can make them so.
Even the expert leading the post-Grenfell overhaul of building regulations agrees.
A selection of the best news and comment pieces published over the weekend are provided below:
England faces ‘complete stall’ of flat selling due to government guidance on combustibles, industry leader warns
Inside Housing, news, analysis, and comment about the social housing sector in the UK.
Cladding puts flat owners’ lives on hold
Helen King is desperate to sell her east London flat so that she can finally move in with her partner. She has had a buyer lined-up for five months, but the sale has not progressed. Ms King needs to supply them with a cladding safety report for her property to be valued and a mortgage secured.
Bolton fire: government downplaying risks of HPL cladding, say critics
The government has been accused of downplaying the fire risk posed by the type of cladding that burned ferociously on a Bolton student housing block on Friday – and of refusing help to worried residents of other affected buildings.
Grenfell United raises concerns over cladding after Bolton student fire
Concerns have been raised over the cladding at a student accommodation building in Bolton where a fire spread “extremely rapidly”, gutting the upper floor. An investigation is under way into the cause of the blaze and calls are growing for an overhaul of UK fire safety regulations.
The Bolton Cube fire is no surprise at all
Residents at the Bolton Cube – a purpose-built student block – have been evacuated following a tower fire, in which flames once again spread through the building, spread by the cladding outside.
Leaseholders fear missing out on £200m cladding fund as bidding deadline approaches
Inside Housing, news, analysis, and comment about the social housing sector in the UK.
Related posts:
Government’s use of extra-statutory powers has made the cladding crisis far worse than in Australia (or possibly Scotland), writes LKP trustee
Cladding victims unimpressed by Robert Jenrick on BBC1’s Question Time
Grenfell United link up with leaseholder groups to protest cladding crisis and warn next government of Grenfell 2
Getting Cayman Islands freeholders to help with cladding crisis is an additional difficulty, says UK’s top fire chief
At last, some sense over the cladding crisis from … Rob Perrins, of the Berkeley Group
17,000 households living in private blocks with dangerous cladding like Grenfell
It should also be remembered in light of the recent floods in South Yorkshire that the Flood Re insurance scheme set up to help homeowners in flood risk areas who were having difficulty obtaining insurance does not apply to leasehold properties.
Why would anyone listen to Harry´s Coffin ?