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Could remedial works trigger flood of properties into the market?

ended 11. June 2025

A conveyancer on Newspage has said a lot of leasehold owners in high rises are — understandably — waiting for remedial works to be completed before selling their homes, as the value is then likely to increase. Once this starts happening, at scale, what impact could this have on house prices and could it prove favourable for first-time buyers — or an opportunity for landlords? In your experience, what % of at risk properties have yet to have works completed? Deadline is COB.

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Chris Barry
Director at Thomas Legal
We are seeing one or two properties in a block struggle to sell, either through being sat on the market for prolonged periods of time or because a sale was agreed and then fell through. This trend is having a knock-on effect with others in the same building and incentivising them to wait until building safety issues to be resolved before considering marketing their property. It’s not just home owners, either. Lots of landlords are also waiting to sell their BTL’s due to lower yields and increased pressure of meeting a higher EPC. The pent-up supply of apartments will undoubtedly help the current supply issue for first-time buyers once these properties hit the market.
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Ross Lacey
Director & Independent Financial Adviser at Fairview Financial Management
We know of a number of people who own flats that have cladding issues, mainly in London. Some of them have been fortunate enough to be able to move their mortgage onto a "consent to let" with their exitsing lender, and then still qualify to borrow the amount required on a separate mortgage to buy a house outside of London which they have moved to.

They are waiting for the cladding issues to be sorted and at that point will certainly sell. So if this sample is anything to go by, I imagine there will others out there in a similar position, so we could see a number of flats hit the market.

These tend to be attractive to first-time buyers; generally without children and wanting to live the "city life" before settling down outside of London.

The rental yields on these flats tend to mean that they require a higher deposit in order to get a BTL mortgage so we see them as being less attractive to landlords, and more so to first-time buyers.
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Adam Stiles
Managing Director at Helix Financial Partners
Cladding issues remain rampant throughout the UK. Whilst the Government has committed to a large numbers of remediation projects, the timescales are painfully slow - some timescales are years. We would always advise against taking on the risk of buying a property with cladding issues - not just from a mortgageability risk perspective but also an insurance risk perspective too. There are only a couple of lenders who will consider mortgaging a property once the works have started, but that doesn't guarantee a mortgage as the client's own profile is also a large factor in any lending decision. It's a large risk to take on with no firm timescale on a return, if there even is one.
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Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
Although many high-rise apartments will become mortgage able again, the danger is we’ll see a glut of near-identical flats hit the market at once, particularly in cities like London, Manchester, and Birmingham. That could push prices down in the short-term as sellers compete to offload quickly. For existing owners, that may be leave a bitter after taste, especially if they’ve waited years for remediation, but at the same time this could offer up an opportunity for property investors.

To add to the mix, a significant portion, possibly 60% to 70% of affected stock, still hasn’t had works completed. Until that backlog clears, uncertainty will linger for buyers, lenders, and valuers alike.
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Kundan Bhaduri
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
Once the scaffolding comes down and the EWS1 forms finally arrive, prepare for a sudden surge rather than a mild uptick. Leasehold owners who have been trapped in unsellable flats for the past five years are not preparing to relist quietly. Take it from me, they are preparing for a coordinated exodus. When those remedial works are complete and mortgageability is restored, many of these owners will be rushing for the exits. Not because the flats have become more desirable, but because they can finally be sold. The result will not be a gentle release of stock over time. It will be a concentrated injection of identical properties into fragile local markets. Values in certain city centre blocks could soften quickly because the supply will become overwhelming. First-time buyers will be tempted but cautious. They will stay on the sidelines, watching rising rates and falling confidence. It is the professional landlord who stands to benefit. He will buy in volume, renovate and own the block.