Homeowners Face Missing Deadline for Funding to Remove Unsafe Non-ACM Cladding

HOMEOWNERS COULD MISS out on billions of pounds of funding to remove unsafe non-ACM cladding.

This is the conclusion as analysis of new Government figures reveals less than a quarter (22%) of applications to the Building Safety Fund (BSF) are currently proceeding to funding.

The analysis was done by cladding remediation specialists Cladding Consulting, of the latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). It revealed just 624 out of a total of 2,820 registrations to the BSF, have been assessed as eligible to proceed with an application for funding.

BSF Applications Deadline

The deadline to submit eligible applications for funding is the end of June 2021. This is just over three months away. It means that thousands of homeowners are in danger of missing out on funding. As a result, they could be forced to pay for the cladding remediation works themselves.

Furthermore, the updated MHCLG figures also reveal that 891 registrations to the Building Safety Fund haven’t progressed beyond the ‘registration of interest’ stage.

Applicants had to register interest to the BSF by 31 July 2020. Now, seven months on, almost a third (32%) of registrations haven’t progressed to registering basic information with the BSF team. This team will assess whether they are eligible for funding.

MHCLG figures also show that of the remaining BSF registrations, 354 were ineligible for funding. In addition, 349 have been withdrawn, and for 238 information has been provided and eligibility is being checked. Lastly, in 364 cases some but not all evidence has been provided to allow verifications.

Unsafe Non-ACM Cladding

The £4.5bn Building Safety Fund has been set up by the Government. This is to pay for the removal of non-ACM cladding from high-rise buildings 18m or above.

Cladding Consulting are a specialist cladding remediation service. The company is helping leaseholders, landlords, Right to Manage (RTM) companies and property managers. This is to apply for both ACM and non-ACM cladding funds.

Steven Truman, Managing Director of Cladding Consulting, said: “It’s worrying that with just over three months to go before the deadline for completed BSF applications passes, less than a quarter of registrations are currently proceeding, while a third of applications haven’t even submitted information to assess eligibility for funding.

“Thousands of homeowners could miss out on billions of pounds of life-changing funding to remove unsafe cladding from their buildings, and will be forced to dig into their own pockets to pay for the remediation work.

“The Government needs to address this problem urgently. The entire BSF application process is proving too complicated and time-consuming for leaseholders, and it’s hard to see how many applications will meet the deadline if more support is not provided.”