A Building Scandal - Charlie stands up for better quality homes

The Camden New Journal met with Dan & Charlie at 53 Agar Grove to discuss their current situation  - read the article here or watch the video produced by Charlie here for the full story.

Charlie's statement: 

Being an MP comes with twin responsibilities: for the overall welfare of your constituency & the country – but also for individual residents who need help. Sometimes, when you meet a resident and hear their story, when you look past the immediate challenges, you see a bigger problem with potentially devastating consequences for the country. The story of 53 Agar Grove is one of those. It shows just how flawed new builds can be – and just how impossible it is to be made whole if you fall into the trap of buying one of those new builds.

Dan, Alex and the leaseholders of Agar Grove deserve a proper solution to their challenges - but they are not alone. There are many others like them trapped in poor quality new builds across the country who need help. And as the next government prepares to scale up house building (as it must) it is absolutely crucial that the many loopholes in the system are closed first: we cannot allow the existing flaws in our building regulation to be amplified.

As the Liberal Democrats have stated in our national policy, passed in Autumn of 2023: we need to introduce higher minimum standards on a range of issues including building safety – and we need to ensure that developers cannot go below those standards.

I’m calling on the next government to commit to the same. And I’m calling on whoever wins in #HolbornandStPancras to meet with, and publicly champion the cause of, the leaseholders of 53 Agar Grove. That is what I would do.