Newham Council: Cladding delay building owner prosecuted successfully

Newham Council says it is the first local authority to successfully prosecute a building owner for failing to remove flammable cladding

An east London council has successfully prosecuted a building owner for failing to remove flammable cladding.

Newham Council pursued legal action against Chaplair Ltd after it did not meet a deadline to remove dangerous cladding.

The council said there was no reasonable excuse for the delay.

Newham's mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: "We have zero tolerance for owners of buildings delaying essential life-saving fire safety work."

She added: "Six years after the Grenfell Tower disaster, [the] decision by the court symbolises a landmark ruling in our fight to raise standards and hold building owners to account.

"This monumental ruling sends a clear warning to all building owners operating in Newham that they must act swiftly in the interest of our residents' safety first and always, otherwise we will take decisive action against you."

'Failed to satisfy me'

Newham Council pursued legal action using its powers under the Housing Act 2004 after Chaplair failed to remove dangerous cladding on a building by 31 March 2021, a deadline imposed in an improvement notice issued by the council in September 2020.

Work only began in May 2021, with the cladding being fully removed by February 2022.

In a verdict delivered on Wednesday at City of London Magistrates' Court, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram said: "The prosecution have satisfied me so that I am sure that a valid improvement notice was served and the defendant company did not carry out the required remedial works relating to the external facades within the required period.

"The defendants have failed to satisfy me that they have reasonable excuse in failing to comply with the improvement notice. I therefore find Chaplair Ltd guilty of the offence."

The company will be sentenced on 31 October at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

In 2020, the government named five building owners that had not fixed dangerous cladding on their properties, with Chaplair among them.

Then-housing secretary Robert Jenrick warned that if companies did not "act swiftly, we will work with local councils to bring necessary enforcement action immediately".

The BBC has contacted Chaplair Ltd for comment.

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