Housebuilders and developers have been given six weeks to agree to a £2bn remediation package for "unsafe buildings" or face "significant consequences", the UK government said on today.
Together with an earlier Building Safety Levy, it means developers will pay about £5bn as the UK government moves to shore up building safety in the wake of the Grenfell fire in London back in 2017 which killed 72 people.
The announcement came from Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and legislation will be brought forward in the spring giving the Secretary of State powers to prevent developers from operating freely in the housing market if they fail to sign and comply with the remediation contract.
The contract will protect thousands of leaseholders living in hundreds of buildings across England. also require developers to reimburse taxpayers where public money has been used to fix unsafe buildings.
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, said: “In signing this contract, developers will be taking a big step towards restoring confidence in the sector and providing much needed certainty to all concerned.”
Dean Finch, group chief executive at Persimmon, said: “The publication of the developer remediation contract is the culmination of many months of hard work on all sides and we are pleased to confirm our intention to sign the final document in the near future, becoming the first developer to do so.”
Shares the housebuilding sector were broadly lower with Taylor Wimpey PLC (LSE:TW.) down 2%, Barratt Developments PLC (LSE:BDEV) down 2% and Persimmon PLC (LSE:PSN) down 1.8%.