Do leaseholders have to pay for the cladding issues created by builders/building Reg ?

nareshm

Hello Martin,

Hope you are well. Please can you advice me on the following. I'm a leaseholder for a flat in Reading UK, I've just received my service charge from the management company that include the remedial work which has increased the cost up to £10k. I usually pay £125 for ground rent and £975 on service charge every 6 months which is fine. My understanding is that service charge is a maintenance cost. Why has the cladding work included. I really don't have the cash to pay this, should be paying for this. I thought the government is doing something about this. Please can you offer me some advice.

Thanks
Naresh 

Slithery

nareshm said:

My understanding is that service charge is a maintenance cost. Why has the cladding work included.

Work to bring the cladding up to standard is maintenance...

user1977

Slithery said:

nareshm said:

My understanding is that service charge is a maintenance cost. Why has the cladding work included.

Work to bring the cladding up to standard is maintenance...

Or an upgrade to the original specification. Which is also something that the developers don't (ordinarily) need to pay for.

eddddy

Hopefully, somebody with some specialist knowledge will come along to explain more details. But a Government press release said:

The government has today (10 January 2022) reset its approach to building safety with a bold new plan to protect leaseholders and make wealthy developers and companies pay to fix the cladding crisis.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up Michael Gove today guaranteed that no leaseholder living in their own flat will have to pay a penny to fix unsafe cladding.

Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-new-plan-to-protect-leaseholders-and-make-industry-pay-for-the-cladding-crisis

@nareshm - if nobody comes along with any more info, maybe you could point your management company towards that press release, and ask why it doesn't apply to your flat.

Edit to add...

That assumes the cladding work is being done for fire-safety reasons. If it's being done for other reasons - like cosmetic reasons (it's got tatty) - then the leaseholders would have to pay.

Or maybe you have to pay for the work now, and your management company will then have to make some kind of claim from the government to get your money back.

HampshireH

You should have had a section 20 for the works so it shouldn't be a surprise at invoicing stage.

You should already have been through a process and have a understanding of costs, what they are for whose doing the work etc and how much.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/managing-agent-trade-body-tells-members-to-stop-issuing-section-20-notices-for-cladding-work-73948

Section 20 would applies to any works of £250 each but the link I provided relates solely to fire safety not just upgrades/maintenance due to wear and tear