According to building safety minister Lord Stephen Greenhalgh, the government is looking at the cost of replacing dangerous cladding on low and medium rise buildings across the UK. Speaking in the House of Lords yesterday, Lord Greenhalgh said the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is “carrying out some detailed research so that we can properly understand the incidents, particularly in lower-rise and medium-rise buildings, where remediation would be required. Then we will be in a position to know the burden that will potentially fall either on the taxpayer or on leaseholders”.
The government have said that leaseholders in buildings below 18m with flammable cladding can apply to a government loan where they have ensured leaseholders will not have to pay more than £50 a month to fund remediation.
In April, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee said the government should scrap the loan and instead increase the value of the £5bn Building Safety Fund to cover buildings under 18m high. A report issued last June stated that in order to address all fire safety faults in high rise buildings, the fund would have to be increased to £15bn.