Yesterday I was pleased to question the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, who made a statement in the House of Commons on building safety, within his statement he said “ I can confirm to the House today that no leaseholder living in a building above 11 metres will ever face any costs for fixing dangerous cladding and, working with Members of both houses, we will pursue statutory protection for leaseholders and nothing will be off the table”

This is very welcomed news for residents of The Wharf at Chatham Maritime, who are facing huge bills for the costs related to making their building safe. Further to my question to the Minister for Housing in the House of Commons on the 29th November 2021, and further to a meeting I held with some of the affected residents with the Minister of State for Building Safety and Fire, Lord Stephen Greenhalgh prior to Christmas, I was able to push as to how this statement will help those residents at the Wharf, and again raise our concerns about the fact that Y&Y Management, who manage the property are currently applying to the Tier 1 Tribunal for a decision on allocation of costs which also a 5% management charge, when there has been a lack of transparency and clarity of the works that are required to be undertaken. I asked what assurances the Government are providing for constituents to ensure they will not face the costs of these works before any support has come into force. On the back of the statement made by Michael Gove yesterday I am calling on Y&Y management to suspend their application to the Tier 1 Tribunal, as this action clearly goes against the intention of the statement made yesterday made by the Secretary of State and quite frankly is the right thing to do as there are many unanswered questions and serious concerns.

Details of the full announcement are here:  Government sets out new plan to protect leaseholders and make industry pay for the cladding crisis - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)