Hi, my name is Jake and, like thousands of leaseholders throughout the UK, I am trapped in my flat, in a building with unsafe, high fire-risk cladding.  

Despite their clear responsibility for causing this issue, there is no requirement for the Property Developer, Countryside, to pay a single penny towards remediation, solely because our building is under 11-metres tall*. The Building Safety Act 2022 gifted rich Property Developers this baffling loophole, allowing them to shirk their responsibility to fix a problem that they alone caused. If our Property Developer chooses not to do the right and decent thing, it is normal, innocent Homeowners such as myself that will be landed with huge bills (potentially £100,000s). The vast majority of ordinary working people have no access to such large sums of money, and may ultimately be forced to file for bankruptcy. 

I would be incredibly grateful if you can sign and share this petition to let Parliament know that this situation is not OK. There is a solution ready to go. Lord Lytton has tabled an Amendment to the flawed Bill that would extend protection to ALL leaseholders and ensure that those responsible for this appalling situation pay... see buildingsafetyscheme.org for details... your support could make a real difference to thousands of people's lives! 

* In actual fact, my building is over 11 metres tall, however because the top floor is just for roof access only it is excluded from the provisions... another example of how the Bill in its present form is unfit for purpose.

More on my story...

I have lived in my flat for 4 years, a flat I purchased in good faith, with no knowledge of any issues with the building. The dangerous cladding has come to light as I prepared to move home. I had found a beautiful house and was nearing completion on Sale & Purchase when disaster struck - a Fire Safety Report concluded that the building was constructed with substandard materials that present a high fire risk, requiring urgent remediation. 

The Building Safety Act, passed by Parliament, only protects Leaseholders in buildings over 11 metres in height. This arbitrary threshold means that I and thousands of Leaseholders across the Country have effectively Unlimited Liability, rendering our properties unsellable (no buyer is going to accept unlimited liability), unable to agree new mortgage deals (banks won't lend), technically in serious Negative Equity, and with the ever present fear of potential Bankruptcy.  

Despite having worked all my life, and having paid off half of my mortgage, I could end up with literally nothing - homeless and unemployed (bankruptcy would mean immediate dismissal due to the nature of my job).

Meanwhile, Countryside and other rich Property Developers who made active and conscious choices to use unsafe Building Materials that ultimately led to this situation, can hide behind a technicality - sitting back and ignoring the impact of their decisions. The Government has no justification for allowing this situation to continue. They need to fix this loophole and make those that profited from using cheap unsafe materials pay.