Propertymark urges immediate action on the cladding crisis following a damning report from the National Audit Office

Propertymark is urging the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) to do more to ensure unsafe cladding is replaced in buildings over 11 metres high. This is in response to a devastating report from the National Audit Office that found the pace in which dangerous cladding is being replaced is far too slow.

The report found that 1,392 buildings had fully replaced all flammable cladding, as of August 2024. This is a far cry from the MHCLG’s estimate of between 9,000 and 12,000 buildings that will need work completing.

According to the MHCLG’s latest monthly Building Safety Remediation report, since May 2024 the number of buildings which have been identified as having unsafe cladding is increasing faster than those where work had been completed.

As of August 2024, £2.3 billion has been invested by the MHCLG to remove dangerous cladding. Considering the number of the buildings which still need urgently required work, the estimated overall cost sits at £16.6 billion, of which £6.5 billion will be funded by developers, the owners of the buildings or social housing providers.

Based on its modelling, the MHCLG has set a 2035 deadline for all work to be completed on every building in England (over 11 metres in height) which has unsafe cladding.

However, it is predicted this deadline may prove extremely challenging and might not be met until 2037.

Propertymark has previously raised its concerns about the remediation of flammable cladding and the slow progress to date.

Propertymark is concerned that residents continue to face high service charges with an inability to sell their home due to the cladding present in their building, even in some cases after it has been replaced.

Henry Griffith, Policy and Campaigns Officer at Propertymark, said:

“The recent report from the National Audit Office reveals the scale of the ongoing cladding crisis which continues to impact residents of these buildings through increasing service charges and has effectively grounded the market to a near halt since 2017. Furthermore, we know from our members that lenders are still extremely cautious when looking to offer a mortgage on a property with unsafe cladding.

“The funding announced in the UK Government’s budget to remediate unsafe cladding is welcome, but it must go hand in hand with stronger measures to prevent buildings from being remediated to a poor standard, increase the scope of buildings covered to those under 11 metres, and ensure more leaseholders are qualified for protections from paying for remediation costs.”