黑洞社区

Housebuilders look set to agree to repair housing blocks affected by the fire safety crisis going back 30 years in a deal with the government to end the dispute over who is responsible for cladding repairs.

Two separate sources close to the negotiations between the Home Builders Federation (HBF) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said the sides were close to agreeing the wording of a pledge 鈥� which individual housebuilders would then be expected to sign 鈥� committing builders to remediate all properties above 11m built within the past 30 years with ongoing fire safety issues.

The news, first reported last night by 黑洞社区鈥檚 sister title Housing Today, comes after housing secretary Michael Gove set a deadline of 31 March for a deal to be reached on the issue.

But the sources said there was no sign of an agreement on the parallel issue of the housebuilding industry鈥檚 wider contribution to pay for repairs to so-called 鈥渙rphan鈥� buildings. These are where owners cannot be traced and for which Gove has demanded a 拢4bn contribution from the sector.

The sources close to the negotiation said the 鈥減ledge鈥� 鈥� which was being finalised 鈥� was set to commit housebuilders to:

• Remediate buildings taller than 11m they have previously built that now have identified fire safety issues
• Do so for all such buildings going back 30 years
• Do so without recourse to the government鈥檚 黑洞社区 Safety Fund

If agreed, the deal appears to closely echo the HBF鈥檚 鈥渙ffer鈥� made to the government on 25 February, which was rejected by Gove earlier this month. However, the government does look to have secured a significant concession. Housebuilders initially offered only to repair buildings going back to 1 January 2000.

Gove said at the time that the HBF鈥檚 offer 鈥渇alls short of full and unconditional self-remediation that I and leaseholders will expect us to agree鈥�.

One source said the wording of the pledge was now expected to be agreed within the next few days, with housebuilders then likely to be asked to sign up individually. It is not known if all UK housebuilders will agree to sign the pledge.

Gove has used amendments to the 黑洞社区 Safety Bill, currently in Parliament, to bring in powers to prevent housebuilders who are not deemed 鈥渞esponsible actors鈥� from gaining planning and building control approvals. While the government has not set out exactly how this will work, it is thought likely that builders who do not sign any agreed fire safety pledge will not be deemed 鈥渞esponsible actors鈥� under the legislation 鈥� thus putting their ability to trade at risk.

One of the sources close to the negotiation said the question of the 拢4bn wider contribution was being passed on to a separate 鈥渞ound two鈥� discussion over a future building safety levy, powers for which are also include in the 黑洞社区 Safety Bill.

This is despite the fact Gove explicitly said in his letter to the HBF last month that he was disappointed the HBF had not proposed a solution on that and that he wanted it to be part of 鈥渁 fully funded plan to fix unsafe buildings [agreed] by the end of March鈥�.

Housebuilders dispute the estimated 拢4bn cost of the repairs for 鈥渙rphan鈥� buildings of 11-18m, and say the wider industry 鈥� including product manufacturers and contractors 鈥� should contribute to the costs.

A spokesperson for the HBF said: 鈥淥ur members remain fully committed to the principle that leaseholders should not have to pay for necessary fire safety remediation costs. We continue to engage constructively with government alongside our members to advance discussions and find a proportionate, industry-wide solution.鈥�

The DLUHC has been contacted for comment.