Contribution
My Lords, I, too, take this opportunity to welcome the Minister to her post. I support this Bill and, in doing so, I must first pay tribute to my noble friend Lady Pinnock. As our local government spokesperson, she has lived and breathed building safety for years. I, on the other hand, am the housing spokesman, which means that, while she does the heavy lifting and gets to grips with the complex technicalities, I get the distinct pleasure of standing up here and loudly agreeing with her.
Let us be honest: agreeing with my noble friend Lady Pinnock on this issue is probably the easiest job in Parliament today, because we on these Benches believe that she is entirely and profoundly right. We all have an interest in ensuring that any legislative framework is workable, of course, proportionate—and that takes into account what the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, just said—and capable of being delivered.
Too many leaseholders continue to face uncertainty, financial hardship and lengthy delays while defects remain unresolved. Campaigners have argued that stronger protections and clearer obligations are required if confidence is to be restored and remediation accelerated. I noticed from some of the latest figures that sales of flats have stalled, and it is not surprising. This is a big sword of Damocles hanging over their construction. I strongly agree with the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, regarding leaseholders and those in shared ownership, for whom he is a great champion. I can only do the nodding dog in the back of the car, but I welcome his expertise in this area.
There is much common ground between this Bill and the Government’s forthcoming remediation legislation. Both seek to ensure that unsafe buildings are remediated —tick—and that those responsible are held to account. The difference is largely one of emphasis. The Government’s Bill will, I expect, focus on getting buildings fixed as quickly as possible. My noble friend is focused on making sure that the people living in them are treated fairly while this happens. Frankly, we need both. A building can be remediated without a leaseholder being protected, but that would still leave an injustice unresolved. These two Bills are not rivals; they complement each other.
The Building Safety Act 2022 was a decent start, but it left behind gaps so wide you could drive a fire engine through them. The most glaring of these is the arbitrary 11-metre-high rule, which has been mentioned. I have spent a lot of time looking at housing, and I am still searching for the scientific evidence showing that smoke checks the height of a building before it decides to be dangerous. If you live in a flat that is 11.1 metres high, the law shields your wallet. If your flat is 10.9 metres high, in essence, the law says, “Best of luck, here’s a five-figure bill for repairs”. It is absurd. A building’s height should not dictate human safety. This Bill would sensibly strip that artificial barrier away.
We also have to talk about what counts as a defect. The current system seems to assume that, if the cladding is safe, the building is paradise. But leaseholders are routinely hit with massive bills for things such as rotting wooden balconies, faulty fire doors and internal wiring that looks like it was put together by an optimistic amateur. My noble friend’s Bill introduces the concept of systemic defects. It says quite simply that, if the developer builds it badly or wrong, the leaseholder should not have to pay to fix it. Imagine buying a brand new car and, several hundred miles down the road, it breaks down while you are in the driving seat, and you are told, “Well, it was a defect that was caused in the factory, but you’ve got to foot the bill to put it right”. I think you would, quite rightly, have a few choice words to say.
This is why I hope Ministers will look carefully at some of the strongest features of this Bill. Its wider protections for leaseholders, its broader approach to building safety defects and its challenge to the current height thresholds all have the potential to strengthen the Government’s legislation. Ministers have a wonderful opportunity here to stop tweaking at the edges, look at what we are proposing today and steel their nerves. They can absorb these provisions, scrap the height limits, expand the definition of “defects” and give their own upcoming legislation some real teeth. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, regarding leasehold tenure and look forward to working with her on the forthcoming Bill. I am delighted to support my noble friend, and I urge the Government to steal the best bits of this Bill as soon as possible.