Speaking at Old Kent Road fire station, Mr Roe said: “I would take this opportunity to implore building owners and managers, who are ultimately the only people who can fix this, to do the right thing – to get the cladding off, to fix the faults in your building and ensure your residents are safe.
“We have two high-rise fires a day in London, which is more than the rest of the country put together.”
Under separate measures announced on Wednesday, around 500 leaseholders trapped in ground rent contracts will see their annual service charges fall.
The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) said ground rent is “neither legally nor commercially necessary” and that the Government should step in to protect consumers from soaring costs.
The CMA ordered eight firms in England and Wales to remove clauses that allow ground rents to double every 10 or 15 years from their leasehold contracts.
The Housing Secretary, Michael Gove, is considering capping all existing ground rents – possibly reducing them to a nominal “peppercorn” level, effectively zero – and launched a consultation in early December.
In its response to the Government’s consultation, the CMA said: “Our conclusion was that ground rent was neither legally nor commercially necessary, and we saw no persuasive evidence that consumers receive anything in return.
“We can also see that the UK government’s broader view that the housing market has to be modernised, and released from anachronistic practices, is a highly relevant consideration in its decision-making.”
The eight investment companies involved bought freeholds originally owned by housing developers Countryside, Crest Nicholson, Miller Homes, Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, and Vistry.
All affected leaseholders will now see their ground rents return to the original fee amount – i.e. the amount charged when the property was first sold – and will not increase over time.
