Landlords who pass on the costs of fixing dangerous cladding to leaseholders could face 10 years in prison, Michael Gove has warned.
The housing secretary has written to building owners telling them that asking innocent victims to pay to fix fire safety defects is now “a criminal offence”.
Legislation is to be passed today meaning that hundreds of thousands of leaseholders living in unsafe homes will, for the first time, be legally protected from “unfair” costs.
The Building Safety Act means that those responsible for historical safety defects and those who own buildings will instead be made to pay. Gove said it marked “a major turning point for building safety in this country”.
Gove wrote: “From tomorrow, anyone who chooses to breach the statutory protections will be committing a criminal offence. Individuals involved in such criminal activity could face up to ten years in prison, in addition to the consequences for their companies. Criminal exploitation of leaseholders will be treated as a matter of the utmost seriousness.”
