hundreds of thousands of people living
in blocks of flats with flammable
cladding and other fire safety issues
say delays in making their homes safe
are leaving them
thousands of pounds out of pocket many
fear bankruptcy
many homeowners facing huge increases in
service charges and buildings insurance
with some bills rising by up to 900
percent
our consumer affairs correspondent sarah
corker has been talking to residents
struggling to meet their bills
young families first-time buyers
pensioners
every generation is caught up in
britain's growing
cladding crisis my money is being
squeezed
food-wise i've had to live off cheese
tasties and pasta
it's basically ruined my life i feel
insecure in my own home
these towers on the river thames were
built with material now classed as
flammable
repairs could exceed 13 million
pounds but who should pay flat owners
say
service charges have soared to up to 6
000
pounds a year each adeline is in her 70s
and is struggling to pay they might
take my flat away if i can't pay because
already we've been threatened by
bailey's coming in so i'm really really
at my wits and what to do i can't raise
money
the developer barrett holmes has agreed
to pay over a million
pounds to fix some of the internal
safety issues
but says it isn't responsible for
problems with the external wall
insulation which it says met regulations
when it was fitted
from london to here in lancashire
hundreds of
thousands of leaseholders are living in
unsafe buildings with flammable cladding
and are now facing a financial crisis
tina's family own an apartment here the
cladding needs removing
to help pay for those repairs their
maintenance charges have risen from just
over 1 000 pounds a year to 15
times that amount how will you find the
money to
pay that bill we can't the simple answer
is we can't
um i mean who has just 15 000 pounds
especially going through times like this
you know you can't sell we can't move
people are worried that they may lose
their home because of it
the building owners have applied to the
government for help to cover cladding
repair costs
here in central london it's insurance
costs worrying residents like mariam
at this development building insurance
has increased by more than
400 percent in a year the 670
000 pound bill is because of the fire
risk
that's despite the fact work has started
to remove
this flammable cladding not only do we
have to
find out that we live in an unsafe
building and that i can't
provide a proper standard of safety for
my daughter
that on top of that i'm paying to fix
this it's just i mean
it just brings tears of rage to my eyes
how can you justify that huge
huge increase in premiums and a cost
that's being passed on to leaseholders
which they just cannot afford to pay
it is taking too long to decide who is
going to pay
or the remediation of these buildings
and
ultimately it's the leaseholders who are
caught in the middle here
but as each day goes by without anyone
willing to take responsibility for this
fire safety crisis
the financial and mental toll on those
living in flammable flats
only grows sarah corker bbc news