A housebuyer who bought her first home at the age of 27 has revealed how the cladding scandal left her bankrupt within 12 months – and without a mortgage.
Hayley Tillotson, 29, bought her "dream flat" in Leeds through the Help to Buy Scheme aged 27.
But six months after moving into the property she found it was clad with flammable material.
Ms Tillotson could not afford the fire safety costs, and in 2020 she gave up the property.
Hayley said: "Michael Gove's new announcement only applies to cladding - not the interim measures which bankrupted me."
She added residents have faced huge bills for other fire safety measures.
Charlotte Meehan, 33, another homeowner, lives with her husband in an east London development that has a range of fire safety issues, including flammable cladding.
Over the past two years leaseholders have had to pay out £500,000 for a 24-hour waking watch.
She said the government’s plans are "half-baked" for people like herself.
Speaking to The Express, Charlotte said: "The announcement does not include help for people stuck in buildings below 11 metres with fire safety issues.
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“It does not cover unsafe materials outside of cladding and it does not address interim fire safety measures that are already bankrupting leaseholders."
The safety of high-rise buildings has been under the microscope since dozens of people lost their lives in the tragic Grenfell Tower blaze.
It put a spotlight on the use of flammable materials in the construction of high-rise buildings – and introduced new rules for repairs and fire safety checks.
Now the government has pledged to take fresh action to relieve this financial burden on leaseholders, who have so far faced eye-watering costs for remediation work.
Some have reportedly been hit with costs of more than £100,000 to replace the unsafe materials or pay for so-called "waking watches", where someone is employed to patrol a building checking for fires.
In February 2021, the Government announced a multibillion-pound package in a bid to ensure no leaseholders in high-rise blocks in England face charges for the removal of cladding.
The measures were intended to protect those who own homes in taller buildings.
They mean leaseholders in blocks over 18 metres (59ft) in height can access grants to replace unsafe cladding.
However, for blocks of between 11 metres and 18 metres (36ft and 59ft), the Government said it would introduce a "long-term, low interest" loan scheme under which "no leaseholder will ever pay more than £50 a month towards the removal of unsafe cladding".
But Michael Gove, who took over the housing brief, said in November: "I'm still unhappy with the principle of leaseholders having to pay at all, no matter how effective a scheme might be in capping their costs or not hitting them too hard at any one time."
The Housing Secretary has now said that no leaseholder living in a block above 11 metres will have to pay – or take a loan out - to fixing dangerous problems.
Under the measures, the industry will likely be asked to cover the estimated £4billion costs to deal with the issue with developers told to agree to start contributing this year to cover the "full outstanding cost".
Potential action also includes restricting access to Government funding and future procurements, the use of planning powers, and pursuing firms through the courts.
Instead, developers have been told to agree to start contributing this year to cover the "full outstanding cost".
Speaking to MPs on Monday, he said: "We will also ensure that those who profited and continue to profit from the sale of unsafe buildings and construction products must take full responsibility for their actions and pay to put things right.
"Those who knowingly put lives at risk should be held to account for their crimes, and those who are seeking to profit from the crisis by making it worse should be stopped from doing so. Today I am putting them on notice.
"To those who missold dangerous products like cladding or insulation, to those who cut corners to save cash as they developed or refurbished people's homes, and to those who sought to profiteer from the consequences of the Grenfell tragedy - we are coming for you."
A spokesman for the End Our Cladding Scandal said they welcomed the plans, but said Mr Gove's talk needed to be backed by "tough action".
David Renard, housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association - which represents 350 councils across England and Wales, warned that leaseholders were "not the only innocent victims" of the scandal.
"The construction industry must also be made to fix the fire safety defects it has built into blocks owned by councils and housing associations," he said.
Stewart Baseley, the executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, accepted that leaseholders should not have to pay for remediation, but said builders should not cover the costs alone.
