On The Which? Money Podcast, co-founder of Clad DAG – the leaseholder disability action group – Sarah Rennie, expressed her concern about how older, and disadvantaged people are supposed to be able to pay these fees. She said: “Older people and pensioners – how can you raise this money after you finished your working life, where does the money come from?
“Not only are we dealing with all the financial issues and feeling unsafe, but there are all these other things like evacuation.
“For example, if you receive care, you have to make a financial contribution if you have savings over a certain level.
“If you receive disability benefits you can’t accumulate savings so where are we expected to find this money when structurally we are restricted from accumulating wealth.
“So, it’s safety, it’s financial, there are lots of structural reasons why people are disadvantaged.”
READ MORE: Retirement planning: The ‘really crucial step’ when it comes to maximising your pension
Last week, leaseholders from across the country protested outside Parliament against the cladding scandal that is far from resolved.
This comes four years after the Grenfell Tower tragedy in which 72 people lost their lives.
Roughly three million people are still living in high-rise flats covered in dangerous cladding.
However, in many of the cases, it’s the people that own and live in these buildings – the leaseholders – that have to pay for these changes.
Many residents are now facing huge financial pressures in order to replace cladding with safety-approved materials, without which their homes are deemed unsafe, unsellable and worthless.
This has put a financial strain on many people’s lives as they can receive unaffordable bills which not only effects them financially, but mentally too.
Thousands of buildings now need to be fixed to ensure the safety of the tenants.
Last week, leaseholders marched to demand action from the government to help them with these
On the podcast, Hayley from Leeds explained how she became the first leaseholder who went bankrupt due to the scandal.
She said: “I went bankrupt last December due to the fire safety and building safety scandal.
“I even went bankrupt before we got a bill.
“It was the wake and watch invoice, it was the increased building insurance, the increased service charge, because I happened to buy my flat with the Help to Buy affordable housing scheme, and that’s specifically for people on low income.
“So, what do you do when suddenly everything your mortgage advisor looks into and all those figures are now wrong, everything is now much more expensive.
“I didn’t really have anywhere to turn.
“I’m now at my dad’s house, he’s elderly and disabled. He needs to be moving house now to like a bungalow.
“The last thing he needs is his thirty-year-old daughter littering up his spare room, so it’s put a really big strain on my family.
“I won’t be the same again, I won’t trust anybody or any contract.
“Money is one thing but mentally the lack of trust and anyone doing the right thing has really got to me.”
Express.co.uk has contacted the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for comment.
For all the latest Business News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
