The government has reopened its £4.5bn building safety fund for leaseholders in high rise homes allowing them to be “spared unfair bills for building safety costs”.
In an announcement, the Department for Levelling, Housing and Communities confirmed that buildings over 18 metres with cladding issues would be eligible for the fund.
It added that since the fund was launched in 2020 over £1.3bn of funds had been allocated.
The DLUHC urged leaseholders to use its online Leaseholder Protections checker, which would allow them to see if they qualify for financial protection under the Building Safety Act.
It said that as legislation was “fully operational” leaseholders could prove legally for the first time that they are protected from “historical building safety costs”.
The Building Safety Act states that building owners and landlords are responsible for building safety and should be the first stop to fund necessary repairs.
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The DLUHC added that any building owners that invoiced eligible leaseholder or sought payments for outstanding bills to fix historical building safety defects could face criminal action, unless they could prove that they were “legally entitled to recover these costs”.
It continued that it was launching a new scheme for buildings 11 to 18 metres where the original developer or building owner could not be identified or held to account.
Secretary of state for Levelling Up, Greg Clark, said: “We must make homes safe. The relaunch of the Building Safety Fund today will help achieve this, but we must also ensure those in industry who acted irresponsibly pay their fair share to put things right.
“The Building Safety Act makes clear building owners’ liabilities and gives us powers to pursue those that continue to flout the rules.”
He added: “It has also introduced far-reaching legal protections to relieve many leaseholders from the financial burden of fixing their homes. With these now fully up and running, I urge any homeowners who may qualify to see if they are eligible using our online Leaseholder Protections Checker as soon as possible.”