Martina Lees Profile picture
Sep 20, 2020 11 tweets 3 min read Read on X
For the past 2 weeks I spoke to >60 people to find out the true scale of the cladding crisis. It could leave 6% of homes unmortgageable for years and hit the whole housing market thetimes.co.uk/article/thousa…
So far, 92% of blocks have failed detailed new safety checks. Then lenders won't lend and leaseholders must wait 5-10yrs (and pay £££££) before they get the sign-off they need to sell/get a new mortgage
Lenders are asking almost any modern flat for this proof. I found examples in 3-storey brick buildings where sales fell through and caused chains to collapse
That means any of the 1.5m modern flats in blocks over 3 storeys in England could be stuck for years because they can't prove they're safe
An insider tells me 2,957 buildings applied to the govt's £1bn cladding fund. That's the first real data on how many tall blocks there are wrapped in flammable stuff other than Grenfell panels
It's 75% more than the 1,700 the government had estimated. It also means the £1bn fund has nowhere near enough money. Experts say 2,200 blocks of those might be eligible and need £2m on average = £4.4bn
That doesn't even include the 20,000 flats still wrapped in Grenfell ACM after all this time
The human cost had me in tears more than once in this investigation. Thank you to everyone who told me how they can't get married, can't afford to have children, can't get IVF, can't retire
What should be done? Here is what @thesundaytimes says thetimes.co.uk/article/minist…
We also today publish a letter from @ukcag @BrumLag @SotonCAG @LeedsCladding to Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, sent a month ago. He did not reply. His minister Lord Greenhalgh responded to them after I contacted MHCLG Image
To top it off, even the Olympic village flats that Boris Johnson once called 'swankier than the swankiest Marbella timeshare' are now unsellable over cladding @OlympicHomes_AG

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Martina Lees

Martina Lees Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @Lees_Martina

Jun 11, 2022
The hardest and most important article I have written in 20 years of journalism: Five years ago on Tuesday, 72 people died at #Grenfell. Over 10 pages, this is the definitive account of the disaster - and the lies, cover-ups and mistakes that led to it thetimes.co.uk/article/corner…
This is also the untold story of the 5-year-old girl from the Belkadi family on #Grenfell Tower's 20th floor: her mum, dad, big sister, 8, and baby sister all died. She alone survived. Her aunt Samira and I both cried talking about that terrible night thetimes.co.uk/article/corner…
And it is the shocking story of how the government failed to tighten flawed rules despite warnings, and how the three manufacturers of the panels that fuelled the fire practiced a "fraud... on the market". The details are devastating thetimes.co.uk/article/corner…
Read 14 tweets
Jan 9, 2022
This is a partial victory for @EOCS_Official leaseholders (and @thesundaytimes campaign to help them) but comes with a big caveat: good luck with making the companies pay unless the government forces them thetimes.co.uk/article/why-di…
Operation Apex will trace corporate webs of SPVs that obscure #buildingsafetyscandal liability and also identify "egregious behaviour where freeholders have sought to aggressively pass on costs to innocent leaseholders", leaked papers show
Read 21 tweets
Apr 4, 2021
New court claims alleging that Zurich signed off dangerous flats as safe without proper inspections raise questions about why the giant offloaded new home warranties onto off-shore owned East West, which collapsed & left liability with statutory safety net thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
The cases also shine a light on why 700,000 live in flats that passed inspections but were found to have fire risks post Grenfell thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
Two new claims by owners of dangerous flats in Bradford & Swansea (incl at the tallest tower in Wales) allege Zurich fraudulently signed warranty cover notes claiming that final inspections were done. Zurich denies this thetimes.co.uk/article/zurich…
Read 11 tweets
Jan 24, 2021
1/6 Fire-risk bills of £100,000 per flat - much bigger than government policy has factored in - are landing on doormats as ministers plan loans for leaseholders #EndOurCladdingScandal thetimes.co.uk/article/hidden…
2/6 New @ARMAleasehold figures show average remediation bill is £50k per flat, of which flat owners must pay more than HALF for defects that breached building rules at the time but fall outside govt funds. This will add fuel to calls for developer levies thetimes.co.uk/article/hidden…
3/6 @thesundaytimes p4: 'Useless' fire wardens doubled in a year to 766 waking watches, costing leaseholders £174m a year, yet officials behind guidance that brought the patrols in admit they had no evidence it works - FOI @Labour4Housing @petermengerink thetimes.co.uk/article/flat-o…
Read 6 tweets
Feb 16, 2020
The lives on hold inside the cladding scandal: "I no longer buy little things like contact lenses. That’s £25 a month — two days of waking-watch payments."
Abigail Tubis, 29, Leeds (1/5) @LeedsCladding @McrCladiators @LKPleasehold @ukcag @NLC_2019
thetimes.co.uk/article/proper…
@LeedsCladding @McrCladiators @LKPleasehold @ukcag @NLC_2019 The lives on hold inside the cladding scandal: "I’m not only facing losing my home. Solicitors cannot be bankrupt, that would also mean losing my career." Rebecca Fairclough, 37, Manchester (2/5) thetimes.co.uk/article/proper…
@LeedsCladding @McrCladiators @LKPleasehold @ukcag @NLC_2019 The lives on hold inside the cladding scandal: "My partner has had to return to supply teaching, aged 67, to help cover the mortgage." Carolyn Lovatt, 64, London (3/5) thetimes.co.uk/article/proper…
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(