Helen Streeton quoted in Inside Housing on the landmark ruling demanding building owners pay for cladding fixes
Partner and Head of BTR, Helen Streeton, has been quoted in the Inside Housing article entitled “What the landmark Get Living ruling means for housing associations and leaseholders”.
Late in January, a first-tier tribunal ordered the owners of London’s Olympic village to pay £18m to fix fire safety issues on five blocks of flats. The judgement was the first use of new remediation contribution order (RCO) powers under the Building Safety Act 2022. It was hailed as a victory by the leaseholders, who have been unable to sell their flats since defects were uncovered, and Triathlon Homes, the housing association that brought the action.
The first-tier tribunal has ruled that Stratford Village Development Partnership (SVDP), the developer of East Village, and Get Living, its parent company, must pay £18m towards making five of the 66 blocks safe.
Helen Streeton, Head of Build-to-Rent at law firm Fosters, says the decision bumps up against other government legislation to cover remediation work. Under the ruling, the owners must now reimburse the government’s Building Safety Fund (BSF), which is paying £24.5m of taxpayers’ money to cover both Get Living and Triathlon’s share of the works.
On the RCO, she says, “its interface with the BSF is a bit odd. They’re not particularly aligned”. The Building Safety Fund allows people with responsibility for remediating the defective cladding to apply for taxpayers’ money, but “overlayed on that”, the Building Safety Act says “we can require you to contribute”.
“Although I understand the concept of somebody apart from the taxpayer being responsible for funding the works, I think it’s a massive decision for developers and building owners,” she says, as it “provides uncertainty” over whether they or their shareholders will have to pay back into the fund.
Helen adds that further thought will now be required around due diligence and the decision may deter investment into the residential HRB sector.
The full article, published on 27 February 2024, can be read here behind a paywall.