[sanp]

Leaseholders / Owners should be the on the hook for bringing their buildings up to the right safety standards. This is a risk they should bear. Who gets the upside when lease / property values go up in general? This is their responsibility.

[bennyelv]

That is a very basic analysis and it misses the point. There is a system of building regulation in the UK that makes it illegal to build a building or to carry out building work which does not comply.

The building regulations in the area we're talking about here are very simple. They don't specify how, just what. E.g. The cladding material must not be flammable (simplified).

There is a system of building inspection and certification, and you cannot buy/sell/insure a building that does not have a certificate to prove that it complies with building regulations.

The issue is that at some point some complete genius said "if you're a large enough housebuilder, you can self certify".

All of the effected properties were bought in good faith with completion certificates that stated that they complied with building regulation. The properties with flammable cladding that needs replacing do not comply with building regulations.

You can't sue the builder/developer in most cases, because this will have happened more than 10 years ago.

The system of regulation is there to protect the public from unsafe buildings, and it has failed them. Why shouldn't the government pay, after all it was their promise that has been broken.

[buckminster]

I absolutely agree. Non-owners are typically paying more in rent than a mortgage would cost, yet they can't get a mortgage because of the absurd rules brought in after the 2008 financial crisis. Even after paying for this expensive remediation, the flat owners will still be ahead of renters. Why should tax-paying renters bail them out?

[hyko]

Well if we’re going down that road, technically whoever did the conveyance and survey should be on the hook as they provided the advice that formed the basis of the purchase.

They won’t be though.