Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 127898 on Buildings: Battersea, if he will list the names of the nine residential buildings where remediation work has started or been completed.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government does not publish a list naming individual high-rise residential buildings in Battersea or elsewhere that have been identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding, or have been deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding.
This reflects the position of the Government not to reveal the identity of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding systems on public safety grounds.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department plans to publish the findings of the call for evidence for leaseholder-owned buildings.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The department published a call for evidence on leaseholder-owned buildings which closed on 14 November 2022. We are analysing the responses and will consider the feedback prior to publication.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many buildings in Battersea were eligible for the Building Safety Fund as of 25 January 2023; and how much of that fund has been allocated for remediation works in Battersea.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As at 31 December 2022 there are 11 eligible buildings in Battersea in the Building Safety Fund and a total of £14,790,860 of funding has so far been approved.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many buildings in Battersea with interim safety measures in place were invited to take part in the Government’s Medium Rise Pilot Scheme.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Mid-Rise Scheme Pilot has initially focused on a small number of buildings to prove the processes and seek early feedback before being opened to a wider cohort of buildings. No buildings in the Battersea constituency are within the pilot cohort of 73. We anticipate extending eligibility shortly.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many buildings in Battersea constituency have had unsafe cladding removed in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 127898, noting that remediation work has started or been completed on nine buildings in the Battersea constituency, identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what active remediation work is taking place on buildings with unsafe cladding in Battersea.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As of 31 December 2022, a total of 18 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the constituency of Battersea have been identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding or have been deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding. Remediation work has started or been completed on 9 of these buildings. The Department does not hold data on the location of mid-rise buildings with unsafe external wall systems.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to tackle damp and mould in social housing.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 126650 on 26 January 2023.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many buildings in Battersea have been identified as having unsafe cladding.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As of 31 December 2022, a total of 18 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the constituency of Battersea have been identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding or have been deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding. Remediation work has started or been completed on 9 of these buildings. The Department does not hold data on the location of mid-rise buildings with unsafe external wall systems.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether a contract has been signed for unsafe cladding remediation work on Sesame apartments in Battersea.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Department has awarded £6.1 million of funding to remediate unsafe cladding on Sesame Apartments but the building owner is yet to sign and return the grant funding agreement. Building owners have a legal responsibility to make their buildings safe, even where the government is funding the cladding remediation costs. We have engaged with building owners and managing agents on the terms of the funding agreement which are fair, proportionate and accurately reflect the implementation of the Building Safety Act. The owner of Sesame Apartments must act now to fix the buildings and if they do not we will support regulators in taking enforcement action.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help enfranchised leaseholders in Battersea constituency with uncapped costs of fixing building safety defects.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The leaseholder protection provisions in the Building Safety Act 2022 provided for the transfer of responsibility for the costs of remediating building safety defects from the leaseholder to the freeholder and developer. These provisions do not apply if the building is collectively owned by the leaseholders, for example, buildings where the leaseholders have collectively enfranchised and set up a company to purchase the freehold. This is because the enfranchised company effectively is the freeholder. The department published a call for evidence on leaseholder-owned buildings, which closed on 14 November 2022 and is now collating and analysing the evidence.
We will shortly publish the final remediation contract that we expect developers to sign, committing them to remediate building-safety defects for which they are responsible. Enfranchised leaseholders living in buildings covered by the developer pledge will be protected from the cost of remedying life-critical safety defects arising from the building’s design and/or construction. Furthermore, leaseholders in buildings over 11m tall are protected from the costs of remediating unsafe cladding even where their developer has not signed the contract, as costs can be met from the Building Safety Fund or from the Medium-Rise Fund, which will open to all relevant buildings later this year. This includes enfranchised leaseholders.