Climate change minister Julie James has delivered an update on progress on building safety in Wales. WHQ looks at the details.
The minister made a series of announcements on building remediation, the building control regime, support for leaseholders in financial hardship, work with insurers and mortgage lenders and stakeholder engagement.
In a written statement to the Senedd, she said that 11 major developers are expected to agree the terms of the Welsh Government Developers Pact on fire safety shortly.
‘Building safety is a priority for this government,’ she said. ‘I am as committed today as I have always been that leaseholders should not bear the cost of repairing fire safety issues that are not of their making. I expect developers to step up to their responsibilities and am prepared to explore all options, including legislation, to ensure this happens.’
Some developers, including Persimmon Homes and Bellway Homes, have started remediation work ahead of formally accepting the terms, and the minister saw progress on fire safety works at Century Wharf in Cardiff for herself on a visit on Monday January 23.
She also revealed ‘significant progress’ on tackling issues with mortgages on affected buildings and changes to the way that the Leaseholder Support scheme works that should mean more leaseholders in financial hardship can get support.
The minister announced details of the pact in November under which developers committed to address ‘fire safety issues in buildings of 11m and over that have been developed over the last 30 years’.
The 11 developers are Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Lovell, McCarthy and Stone, Countryside, Vistry, Redrow, Crest Nicholson, St Modwen, Bellway and Barratt. The pact is underpinned by formal legal documentation that has been shared with the Home Builders Federation. ‘We anticipate these developers will accept our terms shortly,’ said the minister.
However, that still leaves the issue of ‘orphan’ buildings, where the developer has gone bust or cannot be traced. The minister said that: ‘Together with Plaid Cymru, we are developing the second phase of our programme of work to address fire safety risks on residential buildings of 11 metres and over in height. This will set out the plan for supporting orphan buildings across Wales and help identify what is required to remediate all buildings as quickly and efficiently as possible.’
Work has already started to identify an initial cohort of six orphan buildings that will be remediated to test this approach and further announcements will follow ‘in due course’.
The Welsh Building Safety Fund remains open for Responsible Persons to complete an Expression of Interest for their buildings as soon as possible. In the first instance the fund allows for surveys at no cost to leaseholders and providing EWS1 forms for building where the fire risks is low.
The minister added that: ‘The survey work provides essential information and signposts where additional work is needed to address fire risk. It is therefore essential that Managing Agents and Responsible Persons ensure our consultants are able to access buildings as quickly as possible to undertake these works, rather than have access delayed by those who should be acting in the best interest of their leaseholders, residents and tenants.’
Work is also underway on changes to current building control regimes including more stringent regulation of the building control profession including registers if all inspectors and approvers. Only local authority building control will be able to be the building control authority for buildings meeting the criteria for higher-risk buildings. The plan is to move to the new regime from April 2024.
The eligibility criteria for the Leaseholder Support Scheme will be amended in two fundamental ways in the light of the cost of living crisis that the minister said would help more people in financial hardship access support:
- The assessment of financial hardship will take into account the rising cost of energy – this will allow more people to access the scheme
- The displaced residents clause will be removed so that more leaseholders will be eligible including those who have purchased properties as an investment, including pensioners, or those who have received the leasehold through an inheritance.
Work also continues on assessing the right solutions for buildings with defects and what standards of works are needed both to address life critical fire safety issue and the requirements of lenders and insurers.
The new PAS 9980:2022 code of practice launched by the British Standards Institution for professionals undertaking fire risk appraisals of external walls will be tested through a task and finish group of experts ‘to ensure we provide safe homes which can be affordably insured and confidently used as a financial asset’.
And the minister said that ‘significant progress’ was being made on addressing the issue of properties where leaseholders are struggling to obtain mortgages.
She explained: ‘At present, lenders operate on a case-by-case basis in Wales, and we are working closely with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and UK Finance Ltd to ensure the recent announcement for England, which confirmed six lenders who were prepared to offer mortgages on buildings affected by fire risk, will similarly be considered on properties in Wales of 11 metres and over, which are covered by our agreements with developers and the Welsh Building Safety Fund.’
Finally the Building Safety Stakeholder Group will act as a strategic, independent advisory group for Welsh Government on matters relating to the Welsh Building Safety Programme.
The minister said: ‘Stakeholder engagement is at the core of my approach to ensure our policy development for building safety is informed, effective, robust and based on clear evidence. Obtaining the expert views, leaseholder perspective, advice and support of our stakeholders is critical to the successful delivery of our Building Safety Programme. We have also issued invitations to expand the leaseholder representation in the Group, to ensure we capture their views and lived experience on this matter.
‘I am therefore very pleased that following the first recent meeting positive and valuable discussions were made. I look forward to future meetings to obtain the expert views, advice and support from our stakeholders which is critical to the successful delivery of our Building Safety Programme.’
The minister saw remediation work for herself on the visit to Century Wharf in Cardiff.
She said: ‘I have always made it clear that I do not expect leaseholders to bear the cost of repairing fire safety issues that are not of their making and that I expect developers to step up to their responsibilities.
‘I am very grateful to Persimmon for the invitation today, I am very pleased they have worked closely with the management company to carry out this work ahead of formally accepting the terms of the pact and look forward to continuing this productive relationship.’
Persimmon’s regional chairman Liam Scott said: ‘We made a commitment two years ago to pay for any necessary cladding and safety related remediation work on multi-storey buildings Persimmon constructed. We took this leadership position as we wanted to protect our customers and remove uncertainty for them.
‘We have worked closely with the management company overseeing the works, and will continue to do so as we fund the remediation programmes on such buildings in Wales.
‘Persimmon strongly supports the Welsh Government’s efforts to resolve the cladding and fire safety challenge as we believe it is not only fair for leaseholders in Wales, but also the right thing to do as one of the nation’s leading housebuilders.’
Welsh Government also responded to a question from WHQ about the call by Welsh Cladiators (see p30-31) for the implementation of Sections 116-125 of the English Building Safety Act in Wales. A spokesperson said: ‘Whilst sections 116 to 125 provide leaseholders with an option to instigate legal action against a developer who they consider is not remediating fire safety defects they have created, this could actually make leaseholders liable for the legal costs of doing so.
‘In Wales, if a leaseholder or resident is concerned their developer is in breach of the terms of the formal legal documentation underpinning the Developers’ Pact, there will be provision for them to contact this Government, and we will of course be closely monitoring the agreement. The Welsh Government could then take legal action to enforce the formal legal documentation, so protecting leaseholders from the potential legal costs of undertaking the action themselves.
‘The Welsh Government will continue to consider the legal protections and the options open to us here in Wales.’
The spokesperson continued: ‘Legislation must be considered to be appropriate for the Welsh context, and if so, tailored for Wales. Sections 116–125 are specifically written for the building safety regime in England.
‘Here in Wales, we have always taken the position leaseholders and residents in medium and high-rise buildings should not have to pay for fire safety works which are not of their making, and the minister for climate change remains committed to this today.’
‘That is not a limitation on what payments leaseholders should pay.’