On 21st August, I raised concerns regarding unsafe cladding at Churchmans House in Ipswich in a letter to a government minister.
Leaseholders at Churchmans House have submitted a planning application to replace the unsafe cladding on the external walls, as well as a funding application for internal fire safety work. The residents at Churchmans House are all leaseholders, who are split between the Building Safety Act’s three categories of ‘protected’, ‘capped’, and ‘non-qualifying’.
This follows the full evacuation of Cardinal Lofts in Ipswich - built by the same, now insolvent developer - in February 2023, before I was the Member of Parliament for Ipswich.
I wrote to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Building Safety and Homelessness, Rushanara Ali, to ask the Department to approve full funding for the necessary remedial action, and guarantee that the cost does not fall on the leaseholders.
In my letter, I said:
“I am pleased that the new Labour government has promised to accelerate the pace of remediation for leasehold properties.
“Those who are responsible for the building safety crisis should be the ones paying to fix it. It should never come down to leaseholders to fork out thousands on legal fees.
“I will work with the Labour government to deliver on their ambitious promises regarding building safety and reform of the leasehold system."
The new Labour government has pledged to improve building safety, including by regulation, review how to better protect leaseholders from costs and accelerate the pace of remediation. More widely, it has also pledged to ensure those who caused the building safety crisis are the ones who pay for it, bring the leasehold system to an end, and enact the Law Commission’s proposals on leaseholder enfranchisement, right to manage and commonhold.
My full letter can be viewed here.
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