Homeowners trapped in flats in high-rise buildings covered in cladding could soon be spared from huge bills by an impending Government “reset”.

But campaigners have warned the plans will fail to protect leaseholders from hefty costs. 

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove is expected to announce that flat owners in buildings 11 metres or higher will now pay nothing towards the remediation of unsafe cladding. Instead the building industry will have to foot the repair bill. 

Campaigners have repeatedly called for a “polluter pays” approach to the cladding crisis, which has left owners trapped in unsaleable and unsafe homes. 

But what will it mean in practice for victims of the scandal? 

Who will benefit? 

Leaseholders living in buildings taller than 11 metres will be spared from paying to remove unsafe cladding from their homes.

It marks the end of a controversial scheme under which the Government would have covered the costs for buildings above 18 metres in height, but owners in smaller buildings would have needed to take out punitive loans to pay for works. Those long-term loans would have dragged down property prices, as they would have been tied to the flat, not the owner.

The change will spare tens of thousands more flat owners from crippling costs. Some 38,000 apartment blocks are estimated to be 11 to 18 metres high, although campaigners put the figure at closer to 90,000. 

Savings will be significant. Leaseholders have faced average costs of £40,000 each to rectify unsafe cladding, but bills can spiral to in excess of £100,000. 

What is covered by the package? 

The proposals are only expected to cover the replacement of unsafe cladding. This leaves flat owners in blocks of all heights liable to fix other fire safety defects such as combustible insulation, wooden balconies and missing fire breaks. These often only become apparent when cladding remediation work starts on the building.

This is a crucial issue, as External Wall System 1 (EWS1) forms – the fire safety forms that are required for flats in blocks to be sold – take into account these issues. 

Even if the cladding is removed, but there are other defects remaining, the property will not be saleable as lenders will refuse to offer mortgages without this form. This means that to fix all the problems necessary, so that the property can be sold, flat owners may still get hit with a huge bill.