Flat owners in Scotland are “sickened” by the Scottish government’s silence, following pledges that leaseholders in England will not have to pay cladding remediation costs.
While housing secretary Michael Gove has said he will compel developers in England to pay for the recladding of residential buildings wrapped in unsafe materials, there has been no such pledge from Scottish ministers.
Gove pledged to draw up laws to ensure leaseholders were not liable for £4bn of fire safety fixes. He also suggested developers may be strong-armed into paying for the work by introducing taxes, in a move authorised by the Treasury.
In Scotland the picture is more complex as Holyrood ministers do not have control of the relevant tax levers. But the government could reassess its relationship with developers in the Help to Buy scheme, in which taxpayers’ money subsidises the cost of homes for first-time buyers.
