Developers have six weeks to commit to fixing unsafe cladding on high rises or be banned from the market.
Housing minister Michael Gove revealed his plans yesterday in an interview with the Sunday Times in which he blamed the government for the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
A developer remediation contract will compel developers to strip flammable cladding and fix other fire risks in buildings over 11m high over the next decade.
Under the contract, developers will commit £2 billion or more for repairs to buildings they developed or refurbished over the past 30 years.
Together with the Building Safety Levy, this means they will pay an estimated £5bn to make their buildings safe.
Developers will also need to reimburse taxpayers where public money has been used to fix unsafe buildings.
Those that don’t sign up will no longer be able to operate. A ‘responsible actor scheme’ will be set up shortly that will block developers not signed up to the contract from getting planning or building control approval.
Gove told the Sunday Times if a company cannot maintain a home in “safe conditions” already built, it should not be allowed to build new ones.
He said it was “completely wrong” that people who hadn’t done anything wrong were suddenly landed with huge repair bills.
Persimmon group chief executive Dean Finch said his company intended to be the first developer to sign the contract. He said: “Persimmon was proud to lead the industry two years ago with our original pledge to protect leaseholders.
“Since then, we have been making good progress on remediation and aim to be on site on all developments by the end of the year.”
Government to blame
Gove said the government’s “faulty and ambiguous” guidance over the cladding rules led to the tragedy that killed 72 people, 18 of them children.
He told the paper: “There was a system of regulation that was faulty. The government did not think hard enough, or police effectively enough, the whole system of building safety. Undoubtedly.”
Gove said this, “allowed unscrupulous people to exploit a broken system in a way that led to tragedy”.
He also laid blame with those who made the cladding products, carried out the work, and signed it off.
He put faith in the inquiry to find those responsible. “There are sins of omission and sins of commission. There’s neglect and a failure to effectively get the system in place, which is one thing.
“And then there is an active willingness to put people in danger in order to make a profit, which to my mind is a significantly greater sin.”
Gove also said the leasehold system was an “outdated feudal system that needs to go”, and that he was determined to push through reforms before the next general election.
