Cladding risks creating a political crisis for the Tories

Today, for the third time in as many months, MPs will vote on an amendment to prevent the costs of removing cladding and fixing other fire safety defects being passed on to residents.

For some time now, thousands of British homeowners have been left fearing for their lives and facing ruinous bills after fire safety issues following the Grenfell Tower fire were identified in tens of thousands of tall and medium rise buildings across the country. In most cases, building owners have been able to charge individual flat owners to fix the defects, even though their apartments were signed off as safe under government regulations at the time.

The failure to find a political solution has resulted in a stalemate with many residents paying for a ‘waking watch’ of security personnel in their building (costing residents hundreds of pounds per month) while remediation work is delayed. This work could end up costing those living in the flats an average of £40,000 each – and in some cases closer to £150,000.