Latest news with #remediation works
BBC News
11-08-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Surrey homeowner: 'I can't afford to live here and I can't sell'
A woman from Camberley, who is struggling to sell her flat because of the lack of a fire safety certificate, has said she cannot afford to continue living Naidoo, 65, wants to move out of The Courtyard on Southwell Park Road to live with family in Bracknell, but says potential buyers are struggling to get a works on three apartment blocks to bring them up to safety standards are expected to start in the autumn of next Crest Nicholson has declined to comment. The Grenfell fire disaster in 2017 led to changes, including inspections of buildings to check for fire risks. The BBC understands that the company Tri Fire, run by engineer Adam Kiziak, was appointed to carry out the assessment at The Courtyard and deemed the flats to be concerns about the way Mr Kiziak had been signing off fire safety certificates, known as EWS1 forms, led some lenders to withdraw mortgage offers earlier in the BBC also understands that Crest Nicholson reviewed the Tri Fire reports and said it was not satisfied with the results and appointed a different fire engineering practice to do new assessments, which found that work does need to be done on the inside and outside of the blocks to make them Kiziak has been approached for alarms have been installed in flats at The Courtyard and the blocks have a "waking watch", which involves hiring people to patrol them around the clock, looking for signs of fire. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do" Ms Naidoo told BBC Radio Surrey that Crest Nicholson was providing lenders with a "letter of comfort" which outlines the company's commitment to making the development safe, but a number of lenders are still not willing to offer mortgages to said the planned works are not happening soon enough to help her situation and believes they will continue for a couple more years."I thought I would be able to get the cash for my flat and go and live where I wanted to - to retire - and I can't do that," she said."And I can't wait until 2027 because I can't afford to live here now, so I don't know where I'm supposed to find the money."I don't have the money to keep paying the bills and to live here... and I can't sell it, so I can't win... I don't know what I'm supposed to do."Ms Naidoo said she is having to choose whether to pay bills, including service charges, or buy food. Pinnacle Property Management, which manages the development for the private company, The Courtyard (the Atrium) Management Limited, said it understands it can a struggle for owners to pay service charges and does offer various options, including monthly sale of the property is also being held up because of the lack a legal document which allows for changes to the ground rent within the lease, known as a deed of variation, Ms Naidoo claimed increasing charges are also causing problems for buyers seeking mortgages. E&J Estates, which is the agent for the company which holds the head lease (under an agreement to sublet granted by the freeholder), has told the BBC it has previously agreed to other deeds of variations at The Courtyard to amend the ground rent on terms which are generally acceptable to most added it remains open to working with leaseholders and buyers to facilitate sales wherever the remediation work, a spokesperson said: "While E&J Estates continues to monitor progress, responsibility for overseeing the project... lies with the management company and its agent."The Liberal Democrat MP for Surrey Heath, Dr Al Pinkerton, who is supporting Ms Naidoo, said the government is not doing enough to support people from around the UK, who are being affected by similar problems with EWS1 forms."Fundamentally, there has been a complete lack of leadership from the top of government," he said. "I've had multiple meetings with government ministers to alert them to this crisis. "They didn't know about it until I brought it to them, or at least they weren't taking it seriously," he Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has been approached for comment.
Times
30-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Taylor Wimpey swings to loss as cladding bill doubles
Taylor Wimpey is facing a new multi-million pound bill to fix fire safety issues at some of its older blocks of flats. The developer, one of the biggest in Britain, expects its remediation works to cost £222.2 million more than it had originally expected, almost doubling its cladding bill, which stands at £555 million. Even that is just a 'best estimate'. Bosses had hoped to have all the remediation works completed by 2028, but now accept that the repair programme will continue until 2030. Most of the extra costs that the FTSE 100 group is facing relate to defects with cavity barriers hidden behind walls and ceilings which prevent the spread of fire and smoke. These issues 'were not visible in earlier non-intrusive assessments' and so have only been picked up in recent months after the brickwork and render was removed. 'When we did our first assessments, the priority was around cladding that was combustible, and of course brick and block and render isn't combustible,' Jennie Daly, the chief executive, said. 'Now we're going into those buildings doing intrusive [inspections], we're finding these [additional] defects.' Taylor Wimpey said that the fire engineers who sign off on buildings were 'becoming more cautious'. At a number of buildings that inspectors had previously said were fine, they have now decided that they do require some remediation work after all. 'There's a lot more risk aversion,' Daly, 55, added. • Is now a good time to take home some Taylor Wimpey shares? As a consequence of the extra costs, Taylor Wimpey swung to a pre-tax loss of £92.1 million in the six months to the end of June, having turned a profit of £99.7 million in the same period of 2024. The interim dividend, to be paid on November 14, was reduced by 3 per cent to 4.67 per share. Even after excluding the new cladding costs, underlying pre-tax profits fell by a fifth to £148.1 million from £187.7 million in the first half of 2024. Taylor Wimpey's profitability was hampered by having to pay £20 million to fix 'defective workmanship' at one of its old London developments. The contractor responsible had originally agreed to carry out the repair works but has run into 'financial difficulties', leaving Taylor Wimpey to foot the bill. That means this year's annual profit is expected to come in at £424 million — 5 per cent below what management had been aiming for. Given the increased cladding costs and reduced profit expectation for 2025, Taylor Wimpey shares fell as much as 7 per cent on Wednesday morning. At midday, they were 5¼p, or 5 per cent, down at 101¾p. Created through the merger of Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey in 2007,Taylor Wimpey is one of the biggest housebuilders in Britain and is listed on the FTSE 100 with a stock market value of close to £4 billion. Between January and June it built 5,264 homes — 11 per cent more than the 4,728 homes it delivered in the first half of 2024, reflecting improved demand from would-be homebuyers in the opening few months of the year. However, trading over the all-important spring selling season was 'softer' and that has persisted over summer. Reflecting that, Taylor Wimpey is selling fewer homes each week than it was this time last year, although it still expects to deliver between 10,400 and 10,800 homes across 2025 as a whole. 'The first quarter was a really good quarter, but there was definitely a sentiment shift in the second quarter,' Daly said. 'Customers are just being a lot more cautious. Whether that's a concern about tax [rises] in the autumn or feeling that their jobs are maybe a little bit less certain than they were; tariffs and other issues or even waiting for another rate cut. There's a variety of things, but it's all coming together to give the sense of hesitancy and caution.' Pricing is 'broadly flat', Taylor Wimpey said. Its average selling price of £313,000 is 1.3 per cent below last summer, but that is mostly down to the size and location of the houses it has sold so far this year, rather than underlying price deflation. There remains a north-south divide in terms of pricing, with Taylor Wimpey able to push prices slightly harder in the north, where houses are generally cheaper. By contrast, affordability remains a problem in the south of England. 'I have a real concern for first-time buyers, particularly in the south,' Daly said. 'Mortgages [for first-time buyers] are available but they're more expensive so that tests affordability, then you've got to build your deposit and now you've got [extra] stamp duty costs. There's quite a lot going on for first-time buyers, who are fundamental to the health of the housing market.'
