Southwark Council has called on the government to help with the huge cost of the pilot surveys that it needs to undertake on its 172 high rises, under a proposed new law currently making its way through parliament.
The council will need to fork out £18m on these surveys under the new bill, on top of the many other building safety costs it faces on its housing stock. None of the council’s high rises have cladding now, as we reported in September.
An extract from a Southwark report seen by the News reads: “Our Surveying programme has been developed as a response to the Building Safety Bill, the Fire Safety Act, and the Duty of Care that we have towards our residents, Southwark have not received any funding to undertake these surveys.”
Southwark’s housing chief Stephanie Cryan said earlier this month that the council would be lobbying the government’s housing department for help paying the mammoth bill.
“My view is the government are going to have to [give some money],” she said
“Resident safety is the most important thing. We’re waiting to see what comes out of the bill, but there’s probably going to have to be some lobbying.
“Funding is always piece-meal, we need a sustainable funding programme. It’s a small amount of money, and everyone is bidding. That’s not sustainable.
“People’s safety is of paramount importance – I do worry.”
Cllr Cryan pointed to the recent change in the department’s name from housing, communities and local government to housing, levelling up and communities, asking “Where does local government sit then?”
The Building Safety Bill, which aims to create an all-encompassing set of building safety standards, is still being debated at the report stage in the House of Commons, and still needs to go to the House of Lords before it is passed into law.
These surveys are not for the costly and time-consuming EWS1 forms that buildings over eighteen metres with cladding need to get in order to be sold.
The council said that although it wanted these to be done, they were not a regulatory or legal requirement and so the cost would be shouldered by leaseholders.
EWS1 forms can only be provided by qualified surveyors who confirm all remedial fire safety work needed has been completed.
After years of confusion and changing regulations after the Grenfell tower tragedy, delays in cladding removal, and a shortage of specialists to clear the backlog, a huge number of properties – including entire tower blocks in Southwark – have been left essentially unsellable and therefore worthless without these forms. Buildings under eighteen metres do not need an EWS1 form, the government announced in August.
A Government spokesperson said: “Building owners are required by law to carry out fire risk assessments on their buildings and they should make their buildings safe without passing on costs to leaseholders.