Ministers have refused to pay to remove cladding from shorter buildings, leaving many leaseholders to take out loans to meet their huge costs.
No-one “will pay more than £50 a month” under a low-interest scheme, said Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary – triggering a backlash from Conservative MPs.
It was immediately attacked by Thangam Debbonaire, his Labour shadow, as “too late for too many”, three-and-a half-years after the Grenfell tragedy.
“It’s a repeat of undelivered promises and a backtrack on the key one – that leaseholders should have no costs to pay,” she protested.
Stephen McPartland, a Conservative MP, said he was “listening to the announcement with my head in my hands wondering how he can have got this so wrong”.
“It is a betrayal of millions of leaseholders. It is not good enough. It is shocking incompetence. It is clear the PM has to step in now,” he tweeted.
And Paul Afshar, campaigner for the group End Our Cladding Scandal: “The government promised us no leaseholder would have to pay to make their homes safe. Today we feel betrayed.
“Many people living in buildings under 18 metres will still have to bear the cost – saddled with debt around their necks for 30 years.”
But Mr Jenrick defended the loan scheme as “reasonable”, telling MPs: “It’s about the equivalent of the average service charge for a purpose-built block of flats.”
The announcement – brought forward to try to head off a growing Tory revolt – will create a £3.5bn fund to remove and replace cladding on all buildings above 18 metres.
But Mr Jenrick said there would be “a long-term low-interest scheme” for buildings between four and six storeys.
“No leaseholder will ever pay more than £50 a month towards the removal of unsafe cladding, many far less,” he told the Commons.
But Mr McPartland accused him of “smoke and mirrors”, adding: “No mention of fire safety defects, waking watches or excessive insurance premiums which are often the main costs for millions of leaseholders.”
Around 274,000 high-rise flats are estimated to have dangerous cladding, with more than 650,000 people believed to live in them.
But that figure is thought to reach into the millions when those living in buildings of under 18 metres are included – where residents also face problems protecting and selling their homes.
Mr Jenrick also announced a “developer levy” to be paid when companies seek permission to develop certain high-rise buildings in England.
And a new tax, from next year, would “raise at least £2bn for a decade to help pay for cladding remediation costs”.
“The tax will ensure the largest property developers make a fair contribution to the remediation programme in relation to the money they make from residential property,” he argued.
But there was no mention of how building safety defects other than the removal of cladding will be paid for.
