London Square, Telford Homes and Ballymore are the latest developers to sign the government’s building safety remediation contract after missing the 13 March deadline.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) published a list last week with the companies who failed to sign by the set time frame, as well as those who had complied.
The government wrote to housebuilders and mixed-use developers on 30 January asking them to sign a new remediation contract by 13 March.
The legally binding contract commits the signatories to spend at least £2bn on repairs to buildings in England of 11m and above that they have developed or refurbished over the past 30 years.
It aims to address the cladding issues following the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy.
In addition to the Building Safety Levy, developers responsible for unsafe buildings will have to pay an estimated £5bn to fix them.
Immediate impact
Two days after the list was published, London Square and Telford Homes confirmed they had signed the contract. Ballymore followed on 17 March.
However, London Square published a statement accusing DLUHC of damaging its reputation and blamed the delay on the department for sending the wrong documents.
“Our lawyers had made it clear to the legal team for DLUHC that the standard agreement we had been sent was inappropriate and not relevant to London Square,” the developer said. “We have never had any cladding or fire safety issues yet remain totally committed to the pledge signed last year that leaseholders should not have to pay for any costs associated with fire safety remediation work and our agreement needed to reflect this.
“It is deeply disheartening that 30 minutes after the government announced the list of non-compliant developers, including London Square, who had not signed, their legal team conceded to London Square that the agreement needed to be modified, a point we had been making to them for some time.
“It is also very disappointing that the government’s handling of the matter has discredited our excellent track record for building high-quality homes and we have had to defend our reputation as a result.”
Gove: ‘We are coming after you’
Housing secretary Michael Gove threatened in January to put out of business those developers who did not sign the contract, a claim he repeated in parliament last week.
“To those developers that have failed to sign the contract without good reason, let me be very clear – we are coming after you,” Gove said. “If you do not sign, you will not be able to operate freely in the housing market. Your investors will see that your business model is broken – only responsible developers are welcome here.”
At the time of writing, eight developers remained on the list of those that had not signed the contract.
