星空传媒

The government plans to bring forward a new bill to set deadlines for cladding remediation in law.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) yesterday set out the second phase of its remediation acceleration plan, which included proposals for a new Remediation Bill.

The legislation, which the department intends to bring forward as soon as the parliamentary timetable allows, would require landlords of buildings 18m or more in height with unsafe cladding to complete remediation by the end of 2029.

Landlords of buildings 11-18m in height would be required to complete remediation by the end of 2031.

Those that fail to comply without a reasonable excuse could face unlimited fines or imprisonment. The bill will also give specified bodies, like Homes England and local authorities, powers to remediate unsafe buildings where landlords fail to do so.

The government also published a joint plan with the social housing sector, which included a commitment of more than 拢1bn of investment to fix faults in social housing.

Cladding Safety Scheme guidance has been changed with immediate effect in order to give social landlords the same access to publicly-funded schemes as the private sector has - a fulfillment of a previous commitment made by the government.

Housing secretary Angela Rayner said: 鈥淭oday we have given social landlords access to over 拢1 billion to remediate unsafe cladding and make residents safe. The social sector is ready to rise to the challenge and make sure that residents are safe in their homes.

鈥淲e are also today sending a clear message to those responsible for a building still wrapped in unsafe cladding: act now or face the consequences.

鈥淥ur Remediation Bill will include a new duty on you to make your building safe by a specified date, and new powers to impose serious penalties on those who fail to comply with the duty, and ultimately to bypass them if necessary to make the building safe.鈥�

Yesterday鈥檚 announcement also revealed that funding would be made available for the first time to support fire-safety cladding remediation works on buildings under 11 metres, in exceptional cases where no alternative viable funding route exists.