Stop ‘unnecessary’ safety work on high-rise buildings ordered after Grenfell tragedy, cabinet minister says

Rules will be relaxed to stop “unnecessary” safety work on some high-rise buildings ordered after the Grenfell fire tragedy, a cabinet minister says.

Robert Jenrick said it was time to “instil proportionality” into the repairs programme, criticising what experts now believed is an “extreme risk aversion” – hitting residents with unjustified bills.

The housing and communities secretary said “only three people” a year die in high-rise fires, adding: “You have a much greater chance of dying in a house or a bungalow than you do in an apartment.

“So we’ve got to be careful that we instil proportionality – because, at the end of the day, it is only the homeowner who will miss out because they’ll end up having to pay.”

The comments come after fierce criticism of ministers for breaking a promise that leaseholders would not have to foot the bill for repairs which are not their fault.

No funds will be provided for other safety defects revealed when cladding is removed – and leaseholders in shorter buildings face £50-a-month charges to repay loans for the cost of work.

With costs easily reaching £40,000 in many cases, those residents could be paying off their debts for decades, it is feared.

Ahead of the Building Safety Bill being published on Monday, Mr Jenrick was confronted over why the pledge to meet the cost of fixing historic safety defects had been abandoned.

But he replied: “It doesn’t water down that pledge,” suggesting a clause in the Bill has been changed while not revealing any details.

Mr Jenrick also announced that homeowners will be given up to 15 years to sue builders and developers for “shoddy workmanship”, instead of the current six years.

But he faced criticism from Mr Marr that it would be hugely expensive for them take on deep-pocketed developers, as it would not be a “level playing field”.

Lucy Powell, Labour’s shadow housing secretary, said: “This will bring little relief to homeowners trapped in unsellable, unmortgagable homes.

“Rather than doing the bare minimum and washing their hands of the problem, the government needs to establish a building works agency, to assess, fix, find and certify every building.”

On cladding costs, Mr Jenrick admitted that some leaseholders had been placed “in an impossible situation” in the fallout from the 72 deaths in the 2017 Grenfell inferno.

But he told Sky News: “We’re working with lenders and insurers and surveyors to try to create a much more sensible and proportionate way forwards.”

Accused of watering down the vow that leaseholders would not face unaffordable costs – “that sounds gurgle, gurgle, gurgle”, Mr Marr said – Mr Jenrick replied: “You’re reading from an old copy of the draft.

“We have actually changed the clause that you’re referring to, but you’ll have to wait until we publish that in the House of Commons.”