Written evidence submitted by Barbara Sowa [BSB 402]
As a leaseholder of the property, which is managed by housing association, I strongly object to the building safety bill in a current form. While I agree with the principles of building safety and construction, passing the financial implication of the bill to the leaseholders is totally unacceptable. As a leaseholder I cannot be hold responsible for the historic failures and shortcomings in policies and regulations. Moreover, when I bought the shared ownership property in 2009 and staircased to 100% of ownership in 2014, I was repeatedly reassured that the property was built to the highest standards of safety and construction including NHBC guarantee. Even last year, when I was extending the lease for the flat, I was given full assurance about the safety of the building. Recent changes in policies, has brought to light that also my building was built below the standards and safety requirements. As it stands, the building has just received a B2 on the EWS1 due to timber cladding, timber balconies and flammable insulation in some external walls. There were also historic defects identified such as fire doors defects and lack of sprinklers which the building safety bill will cover.
While the bill talks about “affordable cost”, it fails to define it. Considering the fiasco of “affordable housing” where currently the service charges in my building are far higher what is reasonable cost of maintaining and managing the property, I feel I will be left to with the huge cost of remedial work. Moreover, the bill does not legally protect leaseholder rights and leave us at the mercy of greedy developers and ineffective housing associations. Sadly, the funding allocated by the government for any of the remedial work is not near enough to give any of the leaseholders hope for the cost to be reimbursed. This is already causing me huge amount of anxiety and stress. I fear I might not be able to afford the bill, moreover, unable to sell or re-mortgage the property or sell in the nearest future.
Passing the bill in the current form would be yet another slap in the face for hard-working and honest tax-payers. It would favour the profit developers that are willing to compromise the standards for their own profit.