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 
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
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