Govt makes haphazard attempt to alleviate some of the blockages in flat sales mess caused by EWS1

annetheman

• Loans capped at £50 per month to remove unsafe cladding for leaseholders in blocks below 18m.
• Leaseholders in buildings above 18m won't pay for remediation of unsafe cladding.
• Other safety defects (the majority of issues) not covered.
• Token levy of £200 million per year to total £2 billion from developers to fix a ~£15 billion problem they arguably caused.

Outrage from CAGs and supporters of the McPartland amendment.

Jenrick tried (poorly) to justify the arbitrary 18m - washed hands of his own departments advice note Jan 2020 which said, very clearly: "correction, we previously said our rules applied to buildings above 18m. We now are saying they apply regardless of height".

annetheman

It's been a while but McPartland Amendment (and other tabled amendments) were all REFUSED by HoC yesterday - the Fire Safety Bill is in ping-pong stage - back to the HoL, update expected in 1-3 weeks. Lords are expected to retable a new amendment to it that will mirror McPartland and prevent costs being passed onto leaseholders for any remediation work.

Then it'll head to HoC again.

Be back with an update soon. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9295863/Boris-Johnson-facing-new-Tory-rebellion-cladding-wake-deadly-Grenfell-Tower-Disaster.html 

No doubt now after the debate yesterday - if the new amendment is put to vote, the govt will lose. Despite the expected "defeat" - it's looking marginally brighter for leaseholders.

renifer7

annetheman said:

Costs are spiraling. 62.5% face a total bill of above £30,000 and more than 15% think their bill will exceed £100,000.

41.7% have already been served a Section 20 notice and 17.2% have begun exploring bankruptcy

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/what-does-inside-housings-survey-of-leaseholders-impacted-by-the-cladding-crisis-show-69476

This is urgent, urgent, urgent. First time MSE Martin has mentioned it today, on his Twitter. I'm surprised he hasn't mentioned it more e.g. on his show.

Personal opinion: the end payout/compensation etc will be much bigger than PPI. It will take a while but it will happen.

Completely agree with you, I am surprised how little attention this gets on MSE even though arguably it all hits the least affluent homeowners (least funds to move out, least funds to pay for remediation etc.)

Crashy_Time

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/leaseholders-feel-more-trapped-in-blocks-with-cladding-because-of-help-to-buy-loans-69463

Total mess from start to finish.

renifer7

Crashy_Time said:

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/leaseholders-feel-more-trapped-in-blocks-with-cladding-because-of-help-to-buy-loans-69463

Total mess from start to finish.

Yes, it's terrifying.  

annetheman

Another vote done of McPartland amendment today but the margins are rapidly diminishing. Key question asked - if the govt say they amendment is well intentioned but flawed, why have they not come up with a better one?

Annoyingly, back to the Lords for another round of ping pong. Expectation is they will table the same amendment but tweaked in some areas. I believe it *could* have enough votes if it comes back watertight...

coypondboy

Any updates now Mr Gove in charge as friend now had letter from managing agent confirming they are taking legal proceedings against him due to non payment of service charge and forfeiture of lease.  Will be interesting to see how long it takes to go through the whole legal process with the current backlog and 45 others have done the same thing in his block of 120 including a few pensioners in the 80s and 90s looks like the system will be very busy.   

coypondboy

forgot to say all happy with bankruptcy option so they can screw the freeholder which is an offshore company as bills of 80k for 2 bed and 8000 pa service charge (was 2000) a joke with no help from government as rejected by building safety fund.

NameUnavailable

coypondboy said:

forgot to say all happy with bankruptcy option so they can screw the freeholder which is an offshore company as bills of 80k for 2 bed and 8000 pa service charge (was 2000) a joke with no help from government as rejected by building safety fund.

How will they 'screw' the freeholder if they lose their homes, assuming the flats are worth more than 80K?

Crashy_Time

NameUnavailable said:

coypondboy said:

forgot to say all happy with bankruptcy option so they can screw the freeholder which is an offshore company as bills of 80k for 2 bed and 8000 pa service charge (was 2000) a joke with no help from government as rejected by building safety fund.

How will they 'screw' the freeholder if they lose their homes, assuming the flats are worth more than 80K?

The freeholder won`t get paid?