Jan

Why are Ministers using cladding as another stick to beat landlords?

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Landlords have slammed the government’s leasehold reform plans as ‘riddled with confusion and unnecessary delays’ after it was revealed recently that landlords may be excluded from the latest cladding remediation fund.

That is the message NRLA chief Ben Beadle (main pic) is due to tell MPs when he is quizzed by a committee of MPs later today.

Beadle will also say how many landlords were shocked to discover that, while homeowners are to be given £4 billion to pay for cladding remediation on buildings between 11 and 18 metres high, the government has yet to reveal whether this will include landlords.

And yet, in a recent parliamentary answer, Secretary of State Michael Gove revealed that ‘accidental landlords’ who sublet properties because they cannot sell them due to dangerous cladding will be included in the Government’s scheme.

The NRLA is warning that the Government’s plans are not treating all leaseholders equally. In the process they also risk delaying remedial work on dangerous cladding as the Government seeks to understand who may be an accidental or a buy-to-let landlord.

Speaking ahead of his appearance before the Select Committee, Beadle says: “It makes no sense to be treating leaseholders who are landlords so differently to owner-occupiers.

“Both groups have faced the same problems, and both should be treated equally. We are calling on the Government to rectify this injustice as a matter of urgency.”

Case in point

As part of its campaign, the NRLA has highlighted the case of landlord Ian Davies in Cardiff, who for the past six years has rented out a flat on the fifth floor of a six-storey building to bolster his pension.

He recently found out that the building is covered with flammable timber cladding panels and the whole block has compartmentation issues.

As a result, the six-monthly management fee he pays has increased from £700 to £3,000, completely outweighing his rental income, and now he has ‘serious concerns’ about the lack of support for residential landlords along with the rising costs of service charges and waking watch expenses.

Beadle is due to speak at 5pm and will be joined by Liam Spender from UK Cladding Action Group and Andrew Bulmer, CEO at Institute of Residential Property Management.

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