Housing association Peabody is to foot the bill for re-cladding on behalf of its residents living in private blocks, it has confirmed.
It said the move was set to benefit leaseholders and those living under shared ownership schemes in four blocks across London.
The four blocks are: Babbage Point, Greenwich; Montgomery House and Court, W2; New Festival Quarter, E14; and Malt and Palm House, Lambeth. A total of 110 individual properties are involved.
Peabody is thought to be the first housing association to agree publicly to cover the cost of remedial works for its residents.
A spokeswoman for Peabody said: "While repairs costs are normally the buyers’ responsibility, these are exceptional circumstances. We hope our decision not to pass on fire safety costs will reassure residents who bought in good faith.”
Last month, warranty and insurance provider NHBC confirmed it would pay for the cost, expected to run into millions of pounds, of replacing dangerous cladding on the New Capital Quay housing development in London’s Greenwich.
And housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has set aside a £30m provision in its accounts for the replacement of cladding it has constructed in the past, as it joined a small number of private developers, including Barratt, Legal & General and Mace that have agreed to pay the cost of remedial works.
Meanwhile, leaseholders of two Manchester blocks of flats face the prospect of having to pay for the £3m cost of replacing cladding after they lost their case at a tribunal last month.
The government is currently consulting on a ban of combustible cladding on high-rise residential buildings, with the consultation set to close later this month.
In May, it announced that it would set aside £400m to remove dangerous cladding from housing association and local authority blocks.
