Redrow has written to the volunteer directors of the Celestia complex in Cardiff, finally offering to undertake remediation works there at its own expense. The estimated date for work to begin is “early 2025” – approaching two years since the Welsh Government confirmed that Redrow had signed the Deed of Bilateral Contract.
Continue reading “Redrow agrees to fund remediation at Celestia”
In January, we met with the Building Societies Association (BSA), to highlight the continuing difficulties that leaseholders affected by the building safety scandal are having with remortgaging and selling their homes.
Continue reading “Our meeting with the Building Societies Association”
In an attempt to revive the flatlining market for flats affected by cladding and other building safety defects, major mortgage lenders pledged in December 2022 that they would lend without an EWS1 form being required under certain conditions. However, the latest government data shows no improvement on this measure since reporting began three years ago.
Continue reading “Half of High-Rise Mortgage Valuations Still Require an EWS1 Despite Industry Pledge”
We welcome the Select Committee’s report into shared ownership affordability. We agree fully with the Committee’s conclusion that shared ownership products can often become unaffordable over time as shared owners have to pay for 100% of repairs and maintenance costs despite only owning a proportion of the property. Clearly, this is unfair.
Continue reading “Our statement on the LUHC Select Committee Report on Shared Ownership“
On 19th March 2024, we attended Crest Nicholson’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) at their offices in Surrey, to ask the board of directors about their progress remediating unsafe buildings. We attended as ShareAction’s shareholder representative and would like to thank them for their ongoing support for our campaign.
Unfortunately, the encounter did not leave us assured that Crest Nicholson are acting with urgency to fix buildings, or that the company understands the enormous impact on leaseholders and residents living in their unsafe homes.
Continue reading “Our report from Crest Nicholson’s 2024 AGM”
It is now 18 months since the FCA recommended that the Association of British Insurers (ABI) “work with the Government to create a risk pooling solution, providing a plan for this solution and its implementation within 2 months”, and that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) “consider Government providing financial backing of the risk-pool”.
Continue reading “Our statement on launch of the ABI’s Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility”
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill had its third reading in the House of Commons on 27th February – read the transcript in full here and watch the building safety excerpts here – and is due in the House of Lords in the coming weeks.
On 19 December 2023, Secretary of State Michael Gove wrote to all registered providers (e.g. housing associations) to let them know about changes the Government has made to relax rules on subletting and funding available for buybacks of shared ownership properties. He also asked registered providers to publish their policies online.
Continue reading “Are shared owners in London being left behind?”
The first thing to say is that, in a variety of ways, we are lucky compared to many others who are caught up in the building safety crisis. We have now managed to sell our flat and were fortunate enough to be able to buy somewhere new. Our flat wasn’t dangerous, and we never felt unsafe living there. We never needed nor had to pay for remediation work, or a waking watch. We weren’t bankrupted.
Continue reading “Life after the building safety crisis: Laura’s story”
At the time of writing, 55 developers have signed the developer remediation contract and over the last few months, we have asked several participant developers to meet with us to discuss the progress of their remediation programme. As Michael Gove noted in his recent tweet, we are engaging with the Secretary of State and his Department to share feedback about companies that are delaying making homes safe and any significant concerns for leaseholders and residents.
Continue reading “Developer update: Fairview, Avant, Vistry, Crest Nicholson and Lendlease”