Cladding: ‘We are coming for you’, Gove warns unsafe property developers

Housing Secretary Michael Gove is expected to warn those who have profited from building unsafe homes “We are coming for you” as he seeks to pressure property developers to pay to replace dangerous cladding.

The Cabinet minister will set out his plans, which include tasking forensic accountants to track down those responsible, to extend help to cover leaseholders of low-rise flats, on Monday.

The proposals to alleviate the scandal that has trapped leaseholders in unsafe and unsellable homes come more than four years after the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, in which 72 people were killed.

Mr Gove is expected to announce that leaseholders in buildings between 11m (36ft) and 18m (59ft) tall will no longer have to take out loans to cover the costs of remediation work.

Ministers will pressure developers to cover works costing up to £4 billion through threats of taxation or legislation, with no new money being made available for the task by the Treasury.

According to a draft of Mr Gove’s Commons statement, he will warn developers: “I am putting them on notice. If you mis-sold dangerous products like cladding or insulation, if you cut corners to save cash as you developed or refurbished homes, we are coming for you.”

The new plans, which hae received cautious backing from campaigners, emerged when the BBC’s Newsnight programme reported on a letter from the Treasury to Mr Gove, who took over as Housing Secretary in September.

The letter from Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said loans for smaller buildings would be replaced by a “limited grant scheme”.

“You may use a high-level ‘threat’ of tax or legal solutions in discussions with developers as a means to obtaining voluntary contributions from them,” it read.

“I am pleased to see that you acknowledge the principle that the taxpayer should not be on the hook for further costs of remediation.

“To reiterate, my approval of this new package for 11m-18m buildings is therefore conditional on no further Exchequer funding.”