Important information for homes with cladding

Many homeowners across the UK are encountering difficulties in selling, re-mortgaging or buying more shares in their homes if they have external cladding or where there are combustible materials in the external wall construction. Unfortunately, this applies to some Octavia leaseholders. If this applies to you, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible.

This situation has occurred because of the uncertainty around building safety guidance following the fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017. The safety of our residents is our top priority and have been closely following new guidance as it is issued, carrying out checks and any remedial works where necessary.

We, like all other housing providers, welcome and support clearer guidance but we also appreciate this is a complex issue and our experience to date is that solutions can take a long time to complete.

Because of this national issue, mortgage lenders are seeking more detailed information about the construction of buildings, particularly relating to the external facades of buildings that are 18 meters and over (around six storeys). Because this is a new requirement, this information is not always immediately available for us to provide. It is especially difficult for us to obtain this information where we are not the freeholder of the property, that is where homes are part of a scheme that is managed by a third-party Managing Agent. In cases where the information is not readily available, professional inspections and surveys are required. Even then, it is widely publicised that where landlords are able to provide this information, some lenders remain unsatisfied.

If you are thinking about

• selling your home,
• buying more shares in your home (staircasing),
• re-mortgaging

Please contact us. We will do what we can to help but please be aware that we or the managing agent/freeholder may not be able to provide sufficient information to satisfy the lender and you may not be able to sell, re-mortgage or buy additional shares. We are contacting managing agents/freeholdersto ask for updates on all our schemes and we are chasing for action where it has been possible to agree a way forward.