PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Shared Ownership Schemes: Fire Prevention (16 March 2021)

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring Housing Associations to buy back properties with fire safety defects until such time as the defects are rectified to enable residents of shared ownership properties with fire safety defects to move home.

Asked by:
Fleur Anderson (Labour)

Government guidance is clear that building safety is the responsibility of building owners including housing associations. We recognise that shared ownership leases and many other leasehold agreements will allow building owners to pass remediation costs on to leaseholders. That is why the Government has recently announced a globally unprecedented investment in building safety under which hundreds of thousands of leaseholders, including shared owners, will be protected from the cost of replacing unsafe cladding on their homes. The Government is providing over £5 billion of grant funding for the removal of unsafe cladding on buildings over 18m.

The Government is also establishing a generous finance scheme which will provide leaseholders in buildings of 11-18m, including buildings owned by Registered Providers, with access to finance for cladding remediation costs and a commitment that their monthly cladding repayment costs will not exceed £50 a month. We will be publishing more details on how these schemes will work.

We have also introduced a new model for Shared Ownership which will include a 10 year period during which the landlord will support with the cost of repairs in new build homes. The changes will prevent new shared owners from being hit with unexpected repairs and maintenance bills and will help to bridge the gap between renting and homeownership.

Answered by:
Christopher Pincher (Independent)
22 March 2021