Housebuilders agree to pay £5bn bill to fix unsafe homes
Housebuilders have agreed to contribute £5bn to address unsafe homes, the government has announced.
Developers will contribute at least £2bn to fix building safety defects, such as dangerous cladding, on their own buildings from the past three decades.
Some £3bn will also be paid by the industry through an expansion to the Building Safety Levy, housing minister Michael Gove said on Wednesday.
More than 25 of the country’s housebuilders have committed to pay for the remediation works on all unsafe buildings over 11m that they have helped develop since 1992.
The government is understood to have asked around 50 firms, with big names including Taylor Wimpey and Barratt outlining their bills last week.
An extension to the Building Safety Levy will be chargeable on all new homes in England and is expected to raise up to an extra £3bn over ten years from developers.
The government has revealed which developers have signed the pledge.
The government said cladding and insulation manufacturers had not delivered “unlike the approach taken by the responsible developers.”
Gove confirmed he had written to the Construction Products Association on Wednesday. “Manufacturers have individually and collectively failed to come forward with a proposal for playing their part in addressing it,” he said.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at real estate industry body Propertymark said it seemed like the housing minister was “making progress” on his promises.
He added: “It’s promising to see a number of high profile developers commit to remediate fire safety works but more can be done to ensure that no leaseholder at all should pay.
“Mr Gove has a significant undertaking to secure what’s needed and the key now is to ensure all developers sign up as only via a united industry wide response can consumers secure the support they need.”
The Home Builder’s Federation said it fully supported the principle that leaseholders should not pay to remediate their buildings.
In a statement, the body added: “UK housebuilders have already committed to remediate all their own buildings, plus £3bn (through RPDT) to pay for those built by foreign builders, local authorities and other parties. Any further levy is not proportionate and poses a serious threat to businesses, jobs, investment in new sites, housing supply and affordable housing provision. Government must act to make other responsible parties pay their share and not take the easy option of targeting UK builders again for a problem they did not create.”