Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of residential leases that will be forfeited because of a leaseholder’s inability to pay costs arising from building safety defects in the next five years.

The Government does not hold data regarding the number of buildings below 11m and collectively-owned buildings constructed since 1992 with partial or no protection from costs arising from building safety defects under the Building Safety Act 2022.

However, the risk to life from historic fire safety defects is lower in buildings under 11m and so works are required in only a very small number of these buildings. In the rare cases where cladding remediation work is required, the Department has engaged the relevant developers and is having constructive conversations about funding these works so that leaseholders are not required to pay those costs.

The leaseholder protections on service charge and remediation costs do not apply in collectively-owned buildings where for example some or all the leaseholders have acquired the freehold.

However, leaseholders in these buildings, either individually or collectively, can pursue developers – and their associated companies – via a remediation contribution order, for funds they have spent or will spend remediating their buildings for relevant defects.

Please be assured that we are committed to reviewing how to better protect leaseholders from costs and to accelerate the pace of remediation across the country.

The Government is also unable to estimate or predict the number of residential leaseholders who may face forfeiture due to their inability to pay building safety costs, however, we are committed to removing the disproportionate and draconian threat of forfeiture as a means of ensuring compliance with a lease agreement.