Bristol flat owners demand law change over cladding issues
People who own a flat in Bristol are asking for help to replace unsafe cladding to help them make a sale.
Following the Grenfell Tower disaster, a vast number of people have struggled to implement home safety by replacing cladding issues. A group of leaseholders’ at Ninety4 on the Estuary, in Portishead near Bristol, have said many residents are currently experiencing this problem.
Ian Bowering, has recently told the BBC, that he bought a two-bedroom flat in the development to retire in, shortly after the Grenfell disaster. However, even though a government inquiry found the cladding on the external walls of the building was expanded polystyrene and deemed unsafe, he was expected to cover the cost.
Although, the government advised Mr Bowering to get the developer to pay for it, which he did. However, work to replace the cladding on the external walls is yet to start, even though the Grenfell disaster occurred in 2017. As a result, Mr Bowering has been struggling to sell the property.
Crest Nicholson, the development company behind sorting replacement materials, have said they have been working with pensions company, Aviva Investors, which owns the building, ‘to agree a robust and rigorously considered scope of remedial work for the external walls’.
A spokesperson for Crest Nicholson added: ‘We remain committed to carrying out remediation works on all of our affected developments at no cost to leaseholders.’
In addition, FirstPort, which has been managing the development since February 2022, has promised ‘the outstanding accounts will be issued to the leaseholders shortly’ but their priority has been ‘to distribute the service charge accounts for all outstanding years.’
A spokesperson from FirstPort said: ‘The developer has advised us that it will issue a letter on request to leaseholders confirming it will remediate, at no cost to homeowners, the necessary works to the building, as identified by the relevant building safety surveys.
‘This should ensure leaseholders are not restricted from selling their homes during the remediation process.’
Image: Pedro Ramos
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