Newly built flats in a country that
desperately needs them.
Keys ready for people to move into their
own home.
>> This is uh 99 apartments.
>> Estate agent Jamie has already sold
dozens of them.
>> So, this is our show home. We have one
and twobedroom apartments for sale here.
And the type of buyers that move in are
firsttime buyers, young families.
>> But there's a twist. Contracts exchange
hopes raised, but the buyers still can't
move in. This block was completed over a
year ago, but the building safety
regulator hasn't signed it off. The
carpets are down. The couple who bought
this, they worked really hard to save
for their deposit. 14 months they've
been waiting to move in because the
building safety regulator never tell us
when they're going to sign the paperwork
off. After the Grenell Tower fire
claimed 70 lives, a new building safety
regulator, the BSR, was set up to ensure
high-rise developers don't cut corners
and risk safety. But 2 years on, and
it's causing its own problems.
>> From what I've seen, there's nothing
apparent that it's going to cause a
building uh any real issues. as an
example, um signage has been 2 mm too
small to sign off and so the developer
has to change all the signage, which is
fine, but at 2 mm to cause a 14-month
delay, it just doesn't make sense. This
block is not the only one affected by
the regulators delays. Sky News has
discovered there are still 1,210
completed homes waiting for the BSR to
sign them off.
And it's not only finished buildings
that are at the mercy of the new safety
regulator. Following the Grenville fire,
nobody wants to be seen on the side of
high-rise property developers. But if
we're going to meet the 1.5 million new
homes target, they're going to have to
be built. And what's clear is this
government is overseeing a system of
regulating that building that's just not
fit for purpose. So what are you going
to build here? So, we've got planning
for 352 apartments and 166 of those
homes will be for social rented housing.
This site in South London should be in
full swing by now, but it and tens of
thousands of other homes are still
hanging on months delayed approval.
>> We currently have three applications.
The current dates that we're looking at
um that they've given us, one is 6
months, one is nine months, and one is
um 12 months. We have tens of millions
of pounds tied up in the three sites.
>> This government is desperate to build
houses. This doesn't sound like it's
helping.
>> No, definitely not, Sam. New buildings
should be signed off within 12 weeks,
but Sky News can reveal that the
percentage of applications determined
inside this period is falling from 47%
at the end of September to 32% by the
end of March. and the backlog is growing
faster than the BSR can tackle its
cases. In a statement to Sky News, the
BSR said setting up the new safety body
has been complex and huge progress has
been made. They are now working closely
with industry to deliver safer, higher
quality buildings. But the BSR also
point the finger at developers, blaming
the quality of their applications, a
claim vigorously contested by the
industry.
Ultimately, the BSR is a branch of
government and housing bosses think it's
ministers who should carry the can while
the regulator itself has been given a
hospital pass. Without a fix, Karma's
housing target looks harder by the day.
Sam Coat, Sky News, Greenwich.