Nearly 500 blocks with cladding defects still have ‘unclear’ remediation plans

Landlords reported that 88 per cent of buildings with EWS-related life-critical fire safety defects are expected to be remediated within the next five years, by March 2029.

A further five per cent of buildings are due to have remediation work completed by March 2034 and the remaining seven per cent of buildings consist of those where remediation is due to be completed in more than 10 years or completion dates were not clear from the survey, the RSH said. 

In some cases, social landlords have reported estimated completion dates without confirming that they have a plan in place, the regulator said.

Landlords have reported that 0.2 per cent of buildings with life-critical fire safety defects do not require remediation work. These are likely to be buildings planned for demolition.

The survey found that fire risk assessments (FRAs) have been undertaken on 98.5 per cent of all buildings reported, a rise from 97.6 per cent in the last survey in November. The RSH found that there are plans in place to assess a further 0.7 per cent by the end of September 2024.

Of the buildings assessed, 10.6 per cent (1,820) were identified as being affected in their most recent assessment, 132 fewer than the 1,952 buildings reported in the previous survey.

The RSH said this reduction is “at least in part to be due to remedial works being completed in some buildings and a subsequent FRA identifying no [life-critical fire safety] defects”.

The survey found that work is complete on six per cent of these 1,820 buildings and is under way on a further 29 per cent. In addition, work is due to start on a further 13 per cent of those buildings by the end of September 2024.

The RSH said: “Landlords are expected to take timely action to remediate [life-critical fire safety] defects from the buildings they are responsible for, so that tenants are safe and can feel safe in their homes. It is for boards and councillors to ensure these plans are delivered.

“Risks to tenants in any interim period before works are complete must be fully understood, with landlords taking mitigating actions required to protect tenants as necessary. We continue to monitor the performance of landlords in remediating 11-metre-plus buildings and the progress they are making against their plans.

“We engage with landlords in the course of our regulation, including through our programme of inspections which commenced in April 2024. We continue to undertake follow-up engagement with landlords whose returns indicate that they may be an outlier in progressing this work.”