More than 200 Obel Tower apartments may have to be vacated if alleged safety issues not addressed, court hears
General view of The Obel Building, Belfast. (Presseye) More than 200 apartments in Northern Ireland’s tallest residential building may have to be vacated if alleged safety issues are not fixed by the end of the year, the High Court has heard. Construction firm O’Hare & McGovern is facing legal […]Click here to view original web…
Fixing dangerous cladding in Scotland: funding the shortfall
With the Scottish Government recently confirming that it is significantly short of the funds required to remediate dangerous cladding in Scotland, we recap on remediation plans in England and Scotland five years after the Grenfell tower disaster. Five years on from Grenfell and there remains as many as 23 […] Click here to view original…
Landlords could face TEN YEARS in jail if they pass on cost of cladding crisis to leaseholders
Landlords who charge leaseholders for the costs of the cladding scandal could face ten years behind bars, Michael Gove warned last night. The Housing Secretary wrote to building owners telling them that asking innocent victims to pay to fix fire safety defects is now ‘a criminal offence’. It comes […] Click here to view original…
Camden Council settles £130m Chalcots lawsuit for £19m
In 2019, Camden Council announced it was filing a £130m lawsuit over fire safety issues on the Chalcots estate. It has now settled for just £19m – Credit: Charles Thomson Camden Council is facing questions after settling a £130m lawsuit for £19m. The authority accepted an out-of-court payment from […] Click here to view original…
Government’s building safety reforms come into force
Leaseholders will for the first time be legally protected from unfair bills to make their homes safe as measures in the Building Safety Act 2022 comes into force. Those responsible for historical safety defects, and those who own buildings, will instead be required to fund essential repairs. Some developers […] Click here to view original…
The Welsh government is now offering to buy homes affected by the cladding crisis
A small number of leaseholders in Wales who have been hit hard in the pocket will be offered a way out of the cladding crisis – selling their home to the government. Leaseholders hit by the cladding crisis have been calling for action to protect them from bills to […] Click here to view original…
Fire service found no issues at building where Elliot Lawless stripped 160 units
Elliot Lawless of Elliot Group The fire service have said they found ‘no significant issues’ at a city building where the developer stripped 160 units of furnishings. Developer Elliot Lawless , who bought the Paramount building in November 2019, recently told the ECHO that he oversaw the removal of […] Click here to view original…
Prescot man charged with fraud over cladding safety forms
Image caption, The man is due at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on 3 August A man has been charged after an investigation into fraudulent cladding safety forms in Merseyside. The man, of Knowsley Lane in Prescot, was charged with fraud by false representation relating to 88 forms in 2020, Merseyside […] Click here to view original…
Flammable cladding a ‘real issue we need to get sorted now’
Sky News Queensland Editor Peter Gleeson says flammable cladding is still an issue five years after the Grenfell Tower disaster, which killed 72 people. The peak body for Australia’s apartment sector has warned the dangers of flammable cladding persist across the country – particularly in Queensland. It warns several […] Click here to view original…
Five years on from Grenfell: Cladding-hit flat owner reveals how she’s still living in a dangerous building with remediation work delayed
Five years on from the Grenfell fire there are still many flat owners living in dangerous buildings that they say have the potential to be ‘the next Grenfell’. One of them is cladding-hit property owner Sophie Bichener, 30, who bought her flat in Hertfordshire in 2017 for £230,000 with […] Click here to view original…
Exclusive: PFI contractors pay out-of-court settlement in Chalcots crisis case
Residents were forced out of their homes due to post-Grenfell fire safety fears five years ago Cladding being removed from the Chalcots THE four companies that refurbished and maintained the Chalcots estate under a private finance initiative (PFI) deal before it was evacuated over fire fears have reached an […] Click here to view original…
The scandal within the scandal: how Help to Buy is sucking funds from cladding victims
Help to Buy leaseholders living in blocks with dangerous cladding face additional barriers put in place by a government body that seems to be moving the goalposts. Jack Simpson investigates. Illustration by Ben Kirchner Sharelines When Victoria took out a Help to Buy loan back in June 2017, it […] Click here to view original…