Following initial resistance from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in the House of Lords to an amendment in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill designed to close loopholes that prevent leaseholders unfairly bearing the cost of historic building safety defects, Propertymark has written to Baroness Scott of Bybrook OBE, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State at DLUHC to ask why this solution is not being considered by the UK Government.

Propertymark has stated a clear position that leaseholders should never cover the costs of remediation work, because they had no responsibility for the original defect.

Gaps in the current rules, including cases where protections have been refused on buildings under 11 meters with flammable cladding and instances where developers have offered extended leases which effectively invalidate the leaseholders’ protections.

Furthermore, Propertymark believes that the Cladding Safety Scheme (CSS), which has £5.1bn set aside for remediation works, does not represent the best value for money. Especially as it does not account for any other building safety issues which may come to light in the future.

The UK Government has put forward legislation through the Building Safety Act 2022 which would provide some protections for leaseholders and many developers have already signed up to guarantee their participation. However, concerns remain on how any solution will work in practice.