Buy-to-let landlords must be included in the government’s plans to make housebuilding firms and their suppliers pay for the removal of dangerous cladding, say MPs.

“The Secretary of State [for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove] said the government would protect leaseholders from remediation costs, but too many leaseholders will fall through the cracks of the government’s piecemeal measures,” says the all-party committee for that department in a report today.

The report is the committee’s response to plans laid out by Gove to fund the cost of removing dangerous cladding that remains of buildings in the House of Commons on 10 January.

The Secretary of State’s proposals follow on from the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, which killed 72 people, where cladding was found to have accelerated the blaze.

Gove said: “No leaseholder living in a building above 11m will ever face any costs for fixing dangerous cladding.

“They are blameless and it is morally wrong that they should be asked to pay for the price.”

He said the government would amend the Building Safety Bill to retrospectively extend the legal right of building owners and leaseholders to demand compensation from their building’s developer for safety defects up to 30 years old. The Bill currently covers defects up to 15 years old.

Gove added that firms responsible for manufacturing dangerous cladding and insulation, as well as housebuilders, that refuse to cover these costs would be forced to do so by law.

But the government’s plans do not cover landlords with more than one property.

However, the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee says: “The report disagrees with the government that only BTL landlords with one other property should be included in the statutory protections for leaseholders, arguing there are other options to exclude wealthy property tycoons without making landlords of more modest means liable, and calls on the government to publish an impact assessment before undertaking action.”

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.

Chair of the committee Clive Betts adds: “Leaseholders are no more to blame for non-cladding defects than they are for faulty cladding on homes they bought in good faith.

“The government should bring forward a Comprehensive Building Safety Fund, or upgrade their existing funding plans, to ensure that the costs of remediating all building safety defects on buildings where the original ‘polluter’ cannot be traced are covered and that leaseholders are also compensated for costs they have already paid out.”

National Residential Landlords Association chief executive Ben Beadle says: “The government’s decision to exclude BTL landlords renting more than one property from its scheme is unfair and unacceptable.

“As the committee rightly notes landlords are no more to blame than other leaseholders for historic building safety defects.

“Ministers now need to stop dragging their feet on this issue, accept the committee’s conclusions and end its unjust and inexcusable policy.”

The committee’s report also includes calls to:

• Scrap the proposed cap on non-cladding costs for leaseholders
• Implement a Comprehensive Building Safety Fund to cover the costs of remediating all building safety defects on any buildings of any height where the original “polluter” cannot be traced
• Compensate leaseholders for costs already paid out, including for interim measures and for rises in insurance premiums
• Require all relevant parties who played a role in the building safety crisis to contribute to funds for remediation
• Ensure the Affordable Homes Programme is protected at its current level and that social housing tenants do not pay the price through costs or diversion of funds away from maintaining their homes or other vital services.