n the wake of the Grenfell disaster, there have been a series of inquiries, reviews and changes. In one particular area government has really struggled to make good progress, and that is the remediation of residential tower blocks with sub-standard cladding and insulation. In part this might reflect the fact that the ownership and management structures which apply to these buildings do not make it easy for government to pick their target when demanding remedial works.

Some of the statements, for instance of former housing secretary James Brokenshire, appeared to the legally trained to ignore or ride roughshod over the existing private law agreements relating to property ownership. These are concepts that are well established and on which parties have made their decisions and agreed their bargains.

There was a suggestion of retrospective law, in other words making people who were not responsible for repair now responsible on the basis that they were in some way the bad guys or that this was a proper response to a disaster. There were instead repeated political statements regarding who the government thought should pay. Now the government has announced further funding for its existing schemes and a levy on developers to pay for that. If those costs are passed on through increased build costs and higher prices, it will still be the consumer who eventually pays.

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