News & Events

Report on October 2021 Barratt Development Plc AGM

Companies use Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to show shareholders how well the Directors are running the company. With the right planning, and access to company shares, they are a good opportunity for campaigners to raise issues with key decision-makers.

Thanks to our friends at ShareAction who lent him a share, Dave Richards from the London Cladding Action Group attended developer Barratt’s AGM on 13 October. The meeting was held on a hybrid physical/virtual basis with a small number of other shareholders in attendance, able to speak directly to the Barratt Board of Directors.

Continue reading “Report on October 2021 Barratt Development Plc AGM”

Building Safety Bill: McPartland-Smith Amendments

This is a guide to the McPartland-Smith amendments to the Building Safety Bill, as at 27 July 2021. We recommend that you read it together with the amendments. Many thanks to Liam Spender for providing this helpful summary.

Continue reading “Building Safety Bill: McPartland-Smith Amendments”

Summary of Meeting Between Resident Groups, Lord Greenhalgh and MHCLG

Government announcement on withdrawal of Consolidated Advice Note (CAN)

We met with Lord Greenhalgh and MHCLG officials on 22 July. Our detailed notes of the meeting are below. We expect the next meeting to take place after the summer recess.

Our previous meeting with MHCLG was on 26 May (see meeting notes); you may also want to check the notes of our March roundtable with MHCLG, ABI and BIBA.

Continue reading “Summary of Meeting Between Resident Groups, Lord Greenhalgh and MHCLG”

Our statement on EWS1 requirements – Building Safety Bill

We cautiously welcome today’s shock government announcement on EWS1 and the need to inject some much-needed common sense into how building safety is being handled for low- and medium-rise apartment buildings – a true and proportionate risk-based approach is something we have been calling for since we relaunched our campaign.

Continue reading “Our statement on EWS1 requirements – Building Safety Bill”

Our response to the Building Safety Bill

The Building Safety Bill offers the unique chance for the Government to finally take control of the building safety crisis and, once and for all, to help leaseholders who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves physically, financially and mentally trapped. Unfortunately, the Government still seems scared of getting a grip on this nightmare that has blighted our lives for years.

Continue reading “Our response to the Building Safety Bill”

HCLG Committee questions Lord Greenhalgh on forced loans and non-cladding costs

When Lord Greenhalgh (Minister for Building Safety) and Richard Goodman (Director-General for Building Safety at MHCLG) appeared before the HCLG Committee on 8th March, it was already 1,363 days since the Grenfell tragedy. Forty-five months. Almost four years. Yet there was still no sign of urgency in solving the building safety crisis for the thousands of leaseholders who remain trapped.

Leaseholders frequently tell us they have heard nothing since their building applied to the Building Safety Fund last summer. When asked why the pace of non-ACM remediation funding has been so slow (only £160m of the £1bn fund has been allocated so far), Lord Greenhalgh said the delays were due to applicants, as information is missing or insufficient in about half of all registrations.

Continue reading “HCLG Committee questions Lord Greenhalgh on forced loans and non-cladding costs”

Our response to RICS Guidance on Valuation of Residential Buildings with Cladding

When we relaunched our campaign in September 2020, one of our key Campaign Aims was a fairer, faster process to replace EWS1 together with the Government funding necessary to ensure all buildings requiring a form are surveyed at pace, to help the millions of people trapped in limbo due to the zero-risk approach inherent in the Government’s January 2020 Advice Notes.

Continue reading “Our response to RICS Guidance on Valuation of Residential Buildings with Cladding”

Statement on our 3 August meeting with Housing Secretary Greg Clark

We would like to thank the new Secretary of State for Housing, Greg Clark, for meeting us to listen to the stories of ordinary people trapped in the building safety crisis. Mr Clark told us that he considers this scandal to be the most important issue facing his department today, and one that he is determined to solve. Last week, a construction industry source suggested that finalising contracts should be delayed until a new prime minister is in place. However, Mr Clark has told us that the Government will accelerate policies put forward by his predecessor, Michael Gove, and that there will be no ‘treading water’.

Continue reading “Statement on our 3 August meeting with Housing Secretary Greg Clark”

Our meeting with the Housing Ombudsman

A few weeks ago we met with Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman, to discuss the recommendations in our ‘Dereliction of Duty’ report. The Ombudsman has the power to investigate complaints about housing associations (HAs) and other registered social landlords, and can make recommendations, but unfortunately he does not have the power to enforce these recommendations.

Continue reading “Our meeting with the Housing Ombudsman”

Building Safety Act: Q&A with Liam Spender

The Building Safety Bill has now received Royal Assent and is due to become law shortly. On 10th May, we held a Q&A Webinar on the Building Safety Act, where Liam Spender provided an overview of the forthcoming law and impact to leaseholders and service charges. You can download the presentation Liam gave here and the video can be watched below.

* If you find this webinar helpful, please consider making a donation to help us hold the Government to account for the building safety crisis *

DONATE NOW
Continue reading “Building Safety Act: Q&A with Liam Spender”

David and Goliath: SMK’s National Campaigner Awards 2022

We’re delighted that the End Our Cladding Scandal campaign has been shortlisted in SMK’s National Campaigner Awards 2022. Our campaign has been shortlisted in the David and Goliath category, which celebrates small campaign groups that take on much bigger organisations and challenge vested power.

Continue reading “David and Goliath: SMK’s National Campaigner Awards 2022”

Our Letter to Rishi Sunak

With the Building Safety Bill due to become law in the coming weeks, and with all leaseholders still not fully protected, we have written to the Chancellor to ask him to agree to the Government replacing leaseholders as the final stage of the waterfall and to provide up-front funding wherever it is required.

Our view is that this is the only way to provide true certainty to leaseholders and the housing market. Read our letter here.