There’s a warning today that it could take a full decade for vital cladding remediation to be resolved by private house builders.

The cladding presents obvious health and safety issues but also makes sale of private flats in clad blocks extremely challenging.

The Property Institute (TPI), whose members manage around 2m homes across the UK, has published research revealing a two-tier divide in cladding remediation.

Government-funded schemes are completing at more than double the rate of buildings covered by developers. 

At the current rate of progress, TPI estimates it could take around ten years for all developer-pledged buildings to have started remediation works on site.

In 2022, 53 housebuilders signed government‑led pledges accepting responsibility for fixing life‑critical defects in 2,604 buildings they developed. 

The institute says that today, four years later, many of those schemes remain stuck in assessment or scoping, with little sign of acceleration. 

Latest government figures suggest that more than 1,300 buildings have yet to make a meaningful start on remediation, leaving residents in nearly 80,000 homes in unsafe buildings.

Across 511 buildings with identified cladding remediation needs, collated by TPI from its members, which includes buildings covered by both government funded schemes and pledged developer, just 24% are in active delivery, with 13.5% complete and 11% currently on site. 

Around half (48%) of buildings remain stalled in early stages, up from 32% last year.

The findings come following the King’s Speech that confirmed that a Remediation Bill will be brought forward in the next Parliamentary session. 

NowTPI is calling on the government to use the legislation to introduce a backstop – a legal enforcement mechanism that automatically kicks in if a developer fails to meet a remediation deadline – that currently will apply only to landlords and not developers.

The Bill will be introduced to close long‑standing gaps in the post‑Grenfell regime and to speed up work across thousands of unsafe buildings. 

Government estimates suggest between 9,000 and 12,000 residential blocks over 11 metres contain serious defects, with many still awaiting full assessment. 

TPI is therefore calling for the scope of the Bill to also cover internal safety defects as well as external cladding.

A spokesperson says: “This data is genuinely alarming. Thousands of people across the country are living in unsafe buildings, often unable to sell their homes, having faced nearly a decade of uncertainty since the Grenfell tragedy.

“The fact that the current remediation progress is so slow, with no end in sight, is a national scandal. The goal for the government and everyone involved in the housing sector should be to make these homes safe as soon as possible.

“The government’s Remediation Bill is an opportunity to give developers a legally binding backstop that reassures residents that every step legally possible is being taken to make their homes safe. 

“Pledged developers need a hard deadline to ensure there are no more unnecessary delays.”