Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure cladding replacements on residential buildings are (a) completed in a timely manner and (b) carried out with consideration for the living standards of residents who remain in the building while those works are underway.

Building owners must make their buildings safe without delay. It is unacceptable that some are deliberately holding up remediation works by refusing to sign legal agreements that allow Government funding to be released.

Regulatory bodies, the Secretary of State, and leaseholders have legal powers to compel building owners to fix their buildings. We are working with regulators to ensure that rogue building owners are held to account. The Department is already pursuing legal action against Grey GR, the owner of Vista Tower in Stevenage.

Building owners need to minimise the impact of remediation works on residents, and contractors undertaking work should consider carefully how to make work less disruptive and intrusive where possible, listening to residents of the buildings undergoing remediation. Secondary legislation under the Building Safety Act 2022 will include new legal requirements to share information with residents, and new rights for residents to request further information from building owners, including about remediation works.