Hundreds of thousands of British renters trapped in apartments due to a building safety crisis soon after the government signed a contract with a major high street bank to allow them to rent again. You may be able to sell their home.
The move is the latest attempt to address what housing secretary Robert Jenrick described on Wednesday as a “market failure” caused by a 2017 fire at Glenfell Tower, which killed 72 people.
Since the fire, hundreds of thousands of homes have been unsold due to safety concerns. To clear the market, Jenrik estimates that buildings less than 18 meters high do not require the so-called “EWS1” fire protection foam and are safe by fire risk assessors and mortgage lenders. Announced that it should be.
This effectively overturns the government’s guidance in January last year that fire risks for “buildings of all heights” need to be assessed. According to government analysis, the move has expanded the scope of the crisis to about 840,000 homes.
Since the publication of its guidance, which is now withdrawn, lenders have hesitated to offer mortgages to flats that may be considered unsafe, regardless of their height.
Ministers are desperately trying to break the market, and this month Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other major number 10 personnel Meet with Executives from a major UK lender discussed how to resume lending to a distressed apartment and how to take a “more proportional” approach to risk.
The UK’s largest lenders, HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays, welcomed the intervention and said they would abolish the EWS1 form requirement in blocks less than 18 meters. Lloyds said he was looking forward to a move to “help further unlock the housing market.”
“It’s a big step forward for mid-to-low-rise building renters who are difficult to sell and face concerns about the potential cost of restoration and home safety concerns,” Jenrik said. ..
“Rentals can’t stay trapped in homes that can’t be sold due to the undue attention of the industry,” he added.
Some lessors pay tens of thousands of pounds for temporary safety measures such as an “awakening clock” that patrols endangered blocks 24 hours a day while waiting for building safety confirmation. Have been forced.
Genric’s intervention is unlikely to satisfy building safety activists and leasing owners who insist that fire protection should be a top priority, even when the risk of disaster is relatively low.
Kate Henderson, CEO of the National Housing Federation, which represents the housing union, welcomed the announcement, but said that “residential safety must remain a top priority.”
Additional report by Stephen Morris
UK banks agree deal on cladding to ease property sales Source link UK banks agree deal on cladding to ease property sales
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