Cladding and its impact on enfranchisement will be the subject of the upcoming annual Spring Lecture delivered by the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP).
The lecture will take place online in two 90-minute sessions over the course of Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 March. Both days will begin at 3pm and consist of a lecture and a Q&A session.
The lecture will be hosted by ALEP Director, Mark Chick and ALEP has brought together a host of industry experts to speak about the impact of cladding including:
- Dr Nigel Glen, CEO of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA)
- Fiona Haggett, Head of Valuation at Barclays UK
- Dr Jonathan Evans, CEO of Ash and Lacy Building Systems
- James Sandham, Barrister at Selborne Chambers
- Justin Bates, Barrister at Landmark Chambers
- Anna Favre, Partner at Cripps Pemberton Greenish
- Colin Horton, Managing Director of Hortons Valuers
- Piers Harrison, Barrister at Tanfield Chambers
- Mark Wilson, Managing Director of myleasehold
- Chris Macartney, Partner at Bishop & Sewell
- Richard Murphy, Director at Richard John Clarke
- Clive Scrivener, Partner at Scrivener Tibbatts
The cladding crisis has caused anxiety among both leaseholders uncertain as to who will pay for the necessary remedial works and freeholders facing potential liabilities and service charge budgets.
The government recently announced plans to pay £3.5 billion to remove cladding from high-rise buildings. However, the move has been criticised for failing to support those in medium-rise blocks, who will be offered loans to make their buildings safe.
ALEP’s Spring Lecture will address these key problems around cladding and building safety and offer enfranchisement professionals with practical advice on how to deal with the issues going forward.
The online format of the lecture will hope to build on the success of ALEP’s first ‘virtual conference’ in October 2020. Over four days of talks, seminars and panel sessions, the conference was attended by more than 200 delegates. ALEP are anticipating that the lecture will be similarly well-attended and have already sold more than 120 tickets for the event.
ALEP Director, Mark Chick said: “Following the impressive turnout that we achieved at our virtual conference in October, we hope that this highly pressing topic will attract similarly high numbers to our Spring Lecture.
“The EWS1 form has dominated the conveyancing world. Many flat owners are unable to sell or remortgage until any uncertainty concerning the exact type of cladding on their block has been resolved.
“Leaseholders have been similarly concerned about the additional costs that they may face. Many blocks wish to address the question of whether to buy their freehold, which is likely to be a response to the issues of repair and service charges that cladding raises.
“Whilst we cannot answer all the questions that this highly emotive topic presents - and indeed, the situation and discussion is ever-evolving - we will provide an advice-led, practical overview and discussion for practitioners facing these issues in their day-to-day practice.”
ALEP’s work places great importance on education and discussion and these will be central to the upcoming Lecture. The opening day will start by providing background to the situation of cladding in the UK property industry and assessing the impact of the EWS1 certificate. It will then consider how the Building Safety Bill and Fire Safety Bill 2020 have changed the situation and the likely consequences they will have.
On the second day of the lecture, the discussion will focus on the effect that cladding issues will have on leaseholders, enfranchisement and valuation and the impact of the recently announced government reforms to the residential leasehold sector. Both days will conclude with a Q&A session to allow delegates to debate the issues that have been discussed.
Tickets are now on sale for the lecture for members and non-members. Please visit https://www.alep.org.uk/event/58/the-alep-spring-lecture-2021-book-now for more information.
