Government defeats amendment aiming to stop fire safety costs being passed on to leaseholders, but Lords vote means new Commons showdown
Hundreds of thousands of leaseholders living in unsellable and potentially dangerous high-rise homes will continue to face fire safety bills of up to £100,000 each after MPs again voted against banning building owners from passing on remediation costs.
Despite a Conservative backbench rebellion of 31 MPs including the former party leader Iain Duncan Smith, the Commons voted 340 to 225 on Tuesday against an amendment to the fire safety bill to protect leaseholders from costs to make their homes safe in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. The total bill for leaseholders could exceed £12bn, according to property experts.