Government told: Don’t penalise landlords over cladding

The campaign to ensure that landlords are included in the government’s measures to alleviate the problem of dangerous cladding is gathering momentum. 

Last week the National Residential Landlords Association wrote to Housing Secretary Michael Gove to express its concern that landlords were apparently excluded from a £4 billion fund which was launched and aimed at owner occupiers in buildings between 11 to 18 metres which may have dangerous cladding. 

Landlords were excluded from the measure.

Now Propertymark has thrown its weight behind the call for landlords to be included, with policy and campaigns manager Timothy Douglas saying: “The principle that leaseholders must not be expected to pay to fix a cladding crisis that they did not cause lies at the heart of the UK government’s plans to address the issue, but there is no logical basis on which buy-to-let landlords should be excluded from this.

“Buy-to-let landlords are no more to blame and deserve justice just as much as any other leaseholder to ensure they are not penalised for simply being landlords.

“The ball has been put firmly and very publicly in the court of those responsible, but there are still more details that need to be clarified to restore full confidence in this area of the market.

“Propertymark welcomes efforts by the UK government to bring an end to this issue that has left many people unable to re-mortgage, sell or rent out these homes, so it’s vital that private rented sector landlords are included in the support.”

Gove says he wants property developers to pay the estimated £4 billion cost through increased taxes or legal action, as part of a "polluter pays" approach.

Last year Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that a new Residential Development Tax would be levied to fund remedial work on dangerous cladding on higher rise blocks.

The levy will be four per cent and would apply to those developers making in excess of £25m profit.  Some 31 residential developers reported profits of that scale in 2019. 

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