William Clark

#EndOurCladdingScandal #BuildingSafetyCrisis

[Myra Butterworth @MyraButterworth]

A one-bed flat. Service charge marketed at £2,014.
It's now £7,834. Up 289%.
Lenders are questioning whether they'd touch it. Can you blame them?
There comes a point where owners simply can't afford to stay.
But these flats become impossible to sell. Owners trapped, unable to get out. This is happening across the country.

[Lawrence Hunt @huntmj28]

I’ve taken my flat off the market. It was on for 25k less than what we paid in 2014. No one was even clicking on the listing. The only flat which has sold in my building went for a £60k loss and it took a year to complete.

[Sophie @SophieLB1]

The anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy is coming up. So many people I speak to don't realise there are still SO MANY unsafe buildings. It is beyond belief that successive governments have failed to get a grip on a national scandal #endourcladdingscandal
https://t.co/ZYcaBQLife

[Glenn Seaton @GlennSeat]

"Average service charges have increased 43 per cent since 2020 for buildings with simple amenities such as lifts and cleaners, but developments with luxury perks, such as swimming pools and gyms, have seen their annual charges rise by 89 per cent"

This is for government to fix

[Vicky Spratt @Victoria_Spratt]

The managing agent for the block where I am both a leaseholder and freeholder (enfranchised) just told us they would charge us extra if we didn’t use their in house insurance broker 😂

It’s like when an estate agent has a deal with a particular conveyancer and tries to funnel them business

Egregious

Leasehold reform is great but managing agents are going to be the next scandal !

[End Our Cladding Scandal @EOCS_Official]

The Remediation Bill is too little, too late.

A piecemeal approach won't help leaseholders trapped in unsafe, unsellable homes - or deliver the change @UKLabour promised.

We need decisive action, not more half-measures.

[End Our Cladding Scandal @EOCS_Official]

The bill is silent on the key issues @UKLabour spoke so strongly about in opposition: non-cladding defects, non-qualifying leaseholders, the failing Developer Contract, weak risk assessment standards, extortionate buildings insurance & shared ownership.

https://t.co/q2R6OPwdEJ

[Inside Housing @insidehousing]

MPs urge government to go faster on leasehold reform and bring in regulator for managing agents ‘with teeth’ after probe into leasehold bill https://t.co/q93ZUEmNea #ukhousing

[simon maginn @simonmaginn]

According to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee survey of leaseholders:
•52% are struggling to afford service charges
•39% cannot sell or remortgage due to high service charges
More than half in unmanageable debt, and two fifths in unsaleable debt traps.

[Sophie @SophieLB1]

9 years ago I put my trust in the housing market. I piled my life savings into a home. 1 month after completion Grenfell happened. 3 years later I would be sent a bill for £208k to fix historic fire safety defects and 6 years after that I am still unable to sell or move on.

[Matt Lismore @MattLismore]

More than a third of leaseholders can’t sell or remortgage due to high service charges.

This is a miss-selling scandal the likes of which we have never seen before.

[UK House of Commons Committees @HoCcommitteesUK]

52% are struggling to afford service charges. 39% cannot sell or remortgage due to high service charges. The scale of the problem is clear.

5/6 🧵

[UK House of Commons Committees @HoCcommitteesUK]

“I am 60 years old and feel like the last 20 years of my life have been lost due to the stress of being a leaseholder.”

2/6 🧵

[UK House of Commons Committees @HoCcommitteesUK]

The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee surveyed 7,358 homeowners on the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill and the findings are stark.

Our full report will be published tomorrow.
Watch this space.

1/6 🧵

[Rituparna @ritustweets]

I'll believe it when I see it. Not a single multi billion pound company making the dangerous cladding has paid a single penny so far.
I am unfortunately confident that no one will be punished for #Grenfell or the #BuildingSafetyCrisis except innocent residents & leaseholders.

[Sophie @SophieLB1]

Cladding mentioned in the King's Speech... Will give a lot of people hope... Reality on the ground is most will stay stuck for some time to come #EndOurCladdingScandal

[Co-operative Party @CoopParty]

Today, @AngelaRayner put the fight for commonhold as "vested interests vs people being shafted."

She's right.

It's time to mandate commonhold, end leasehold creation for new builds, and give existing leaseholders conversion rights.

[NLC - KATIE KENDRICK OBE - LEASEHOLD CAMPAIGNER @NLC_2019]

"The idea freeholders are the fairy godmothers and fathers when it comes to building safety. The truth is the opposite" @michaelgove

@RFAssociation @AngelaRayner @CommonsHCLG @FloEshalomi @EOCS_Official @mtpennycook #LeaseholdersTogether

[Stephen Murphy @scmurphy]

Double header cross party support for deep leasehold and commonhold reform from two former heads of MHCLG

Strong calls for Gov to move faster on abolishing ground rent from the current 42 to 20 year off ramp and be bolder

[Housing, Communities & Local Government Committee @CommonsHCLG]

Lord @MichaelGove, former Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, told us that freeholders "have benefitted from a system whereby they get money for nothing", and he'd like to see an acceleration by Government to end ground rent.