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<p>Government guidance is clear that building safety is the responsibility of building
owners and we have given expert advice on a range of safety issues to provide clarity.</p><p>The
Department has ongoing engagement with developers and building owners of private sector
high-rise residential buildings (over 18 metres or six storeys, whichever is reached
first) with unsafe cladding. This has led to the remediation of over half of high-rise
residential buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding being
funded by the developer, freeholder or through warranty claims, without passing the
costs onto leaseholders. Furthermore, the Private Sector ACM Remediation Fund and
the Building Safety Fund for the remediation of buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding
both require applicants to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to
recover the costs of replacing the unsafe cladding from those responsible through
insurance claims, warranties or legal action.</p><p>Government also expects building
owners who have already committed to pay for the removal and replacement of unsafe
cladding systems to honour their commitments.</p><p>We recognise that there are cases
where leasehold agreements will allow building owners or their managing agents to
pass on remediation costs to leaseholders. That is why the Government is developing
proposals to help to protect leaseholders, and we will provide more details as soon
as we are in a position to do so.</p>
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