Cladding Nightmare Causes Reducing Saleable Housing Stock

Up to 200,000 homes have been left unsaleable because of unsafe cladding.

As the Government scramble to rectify the cladding nightmare enveloping the nation, homeowners have been left stranded in their dangerous homes as stakeholders in the property sector argue over who should take accountability and responsibility for the issue.

The latest release from the Government’s ‘Building Safety Programme’ suggests that less than a third (31%) of high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England have completed remediation works to remove and replace Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding.

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, the Government declared a number of cladding, including ACM which covered Grenfell, as unsafe.

Building regulations now deem all buildings with unsafe materials to be in breach of safety regulations.

Whilst a £200 million scheme has been put in place to help many buildings covered in ACM, a multitude of privately owned buildings and those enveloped in other unsafe cladding materials, which have since been labelled unsafe, have been left without help.

Unfortunately, for the unsuspecting homeowners living within the buildings, they are placed in the unenviable position of living in unsafe accommodation or paying thousands to rectify the issue and remove the cladding before replacing it with a safer alternative.

Whilst these buildings wait in limbo, their homes become unsaleable, with a host of lenders unwilling to risk offering a mortgage to properties considered a fire risk. Worse still, lenders are also unwilling to remortgage the properties, so lenders are unable to source the necessary repair funds.

A recent survey of homeowners impacted by cladding issues found 82% unable to sell their home and 65% know a member of their building who has been unable to relocate or accept new jobs because they are unable to sell and move.

Only 141 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings have undertaken remediation works whilst 310 buildings are yet to make a definitive decision to remove dangerous cladding.

75 of the Government’s 86 social sector residential buildings are starting work with a further 10 completing remediation plans.

However, of the 175 private sector residential buildings, only 32 have started remediation with 143 buildings still to start any works and 43 still to make a plan.

To a large extent, this is because there is no certainty over governmental financial support and homeowners are left warring with freeholders over who is to pay for the works.

According to a recent LKP The Leaseholders Charity survey, which garnered responses from over 117 sites, 90% feel the Government has provided ‘no help’ in their fight to complete remediation works.

Left with the task of protecting their homes from unsafe conditions themselves, 98% of homeowners have not been offered a financial option by their freeholder and over half of respondents (58%), dependent on remortgaging their property to pay for any remediation work, believe mortgage providers need to provide more help for cladding prisoners.

In a time when the sector is recovering from a housing stock shortage, the Government will need to act quickly to ensure the thousands of unsaleable residential properties are fixed and brought back into circulation.

A Government spokesman said:

“It is unacceptable that some residents find themselves stuck in limbo, unable to sell their home. The government has taken action to support an industry-led solution for valuations. Building owners are responsible for ensuring any building safety risks are identified and fixed as a matter of urgency.”