Government plans to resolve the cladding scandal penalise smaller buy-to-let landlords, and are based on ‘lazy and false assumptions’ according to criticism from the National Residential Landlords Association.
The rebuke comes after comments made by the housing secretary Michael Gove at the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee.
Gove confirmed that landlords who rent out more than one leadehold property will not be covered by the government’s redress scheme, which states that no leaseholder will be require to cover the cost of replacing dangerous cladding.
Gove said this was because he did not want government funds to support those who already had “significant means” to pay for remedial action themselves. Gove went on to to say any remedial scheme would not be perfect.
The National Residential Landlords Association points out that this means multi-millionaires owning and living in a single luxury penthouse would be covered by the Government’s plans, while landlords renting out more than one property for a pension would not be.
According to the Government’s own data, 94% of private landlords rent property as an individual, with 44% becoming a landlord to contribute to their pension.
NRLA chief executive Ben Beadle says: “Michael Gove’s previous comments about ending the scandal of leaseholders paying to remove dangerous cladding now ring hollow.
“This is not about who does and does not have the means to pay. It is about fairness. No leaseholder, irrespective of how many properties they own, should be expected to foot the bill for dangerous and illegal cladding installed by someone else.”
He adds: “The Government needs to wake up to an injustice of its own making and make amends now.”
The Conservative Peer, Lord Naseby has tabled an amendment to the Building Safety Bill to ensure that all leaseholders are treated equally, irrespective of how many properties they own.
In addition, a parliamentary motion tabled by the Conservative MP, Sir Peter Bottomley which calls for buy-to-let landlords and owner-occupier leaseholders to be treated the same, has secured cross-party support including from Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green MPs.
