Building Safety Bill to clamp down on unsafe cladding

safety of construction materials

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The Building Safety Bill has added new powers that will see unsafe cladding clamped down on.

Under the new measure developers risk losing planning permission should they refuse to pay the costs of removing unsafe cladding. Projects can also be blocked under government plans.

The measures will also allow for cladding companies to be sued, with defective products earning fines. The proposed measures are part of a Building Safety Bill following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the BBC reported.

People who are currently facing bills of thousands of pounds to fix their homes welcomed the move.

Michael Gove, Housing Secretary, said: “We cannot allow those who do not take building safety seriously to build homes in the future, and for those not willing to play their part they must face consequences.”

Last month, Gove announced that leaseholders living in buildings high than 11 metres will not face costs for fixing dangerous cladding. In turn, developers would be expected to fix dangerous buildings. Failure to do so will result in legal or tax changes, he added.

Leaseholders now have up to 30 years, from the current six years, to sue builders and product manufacturers for defects in England, but there are plans to extend it UK wide.

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