Communities and local government secretary James Brokenshire has warned private landlords they could face government action if they do not fully fund the removal and replacement of potentially dangerous ACM cladding.
Speaking in the Commons this week, ahead of the first anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, Brokenshire said the government would fully fund cladding replacement on blocks over 18m owned by social landlords. Remediation work has started on two-thirds of buildings in the social housing sector, with the total bill estimated to be £400m. The cost of “waking watch” patrols will add tens of millions of pounds to likely bills.
Brokenshire said: “We expect building owners in the private sector to not pass costs on to leaseholders. The private sector must step up and I am not ruling anything out if they do not.”
Lessons from the disaster were discussed at a roundtable at the London Real Estate Forum on Thursday, which fed into a wider debate about collaboration with London’s communities.
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