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  • hundreds of thousands of people living in blocks of flats with flammable cladding and other fire safety issues say delays in making their home safe, leaving them thousands of pounds out of pocket.

  • Many fear bankruptcy.

  • Many homeowners facing huge increases in service charges and buildings insurance, with some bills rising by up to 900%.

  • Our consumer affairs correspondent, Sara Corker, has been talking to residents struggling to meet their bills.

  • Young families, first time buyers, pensioners Every generation is caught up in Britain's growing cladding crisis.

  • My money is being squeezed, food wise.

  • I've had to live off cheese taste season, pastor.

  • It's basically do in my life.

  • I feel insecure in my own home.

  • These towers on the River Thames were built with material now clusters.

  • Flammable repairs could exceed £13 million.

  • But who should pay Flat owners say service charges have soared to up to £6000 a year each.

  • Adaline is in her seventies and is struggling to pay the most mhm Take my flat away if I can't pay because already we're being threatened by Bailey's coming in.

  • So I'm really, really at my wits on what to do.

  • I can't raise money developer Barret Homes has agreed to pay over a million pounds to fix some of the internal safety issues, but says it isn't responsible for problems with the external wall insulation, which it says met regulations when it was fitted from London to here in Lancashire, hundreds of thousands of leaseholders air living in unsafe buildings with flammable cladding on are now facing a financial crisis.

  • Tina's family owned an apartment here.

  • The cladding needs removing toe help pay for those repairs.

  • Their maintenance charges have risen from just over £1000 a year to 15 times that amount.

  • How will you find the money to pay that bill?

  • Way can't.

  • The simple answer is we can't I mean, who has just £15,000 especially going through times like this.

  • You know you can't sell, we can't move.

  • People are worried that they may lose their home because of it.

  • The building owners have applied to the government for help to cover cladding repair costs.

  • Here in central London, it's insurance costs, worrying residents like Marium.

  • This development building insurance has increased by more than 400% in a year.

  • The £670,000 bill is because of the fire risk.

  • That's despite the fact work has started to remove this flammable cladding.

  • Not only do we have toe find out that we live in an unsafe building and that I can't provide a proper standard of safety for my daughter, that on top of that I'm paying to fix this.

  • It's just I mean, it just brings tears of rage.

  • My eyes.

  • How can you justify that huge, huge increase in premiums on a cost that's being passed on to leaseholders, which they just cannot afford to pay?

  • That is taking too long to decide who is going to pay what the remediation off these buildings.

  • And ultimately, it's the least holders who are caught in the middle here.

  • But as each day goes by without anyone willing to take responsibility for this fire safety crisis, the financial and mental toll on those living inflammable flat only grows.

hundreds of thousands of people living in blocks of flats with flammable cladding and other fire safety issues say delays in making their home safe, leaving them thousands of pounds out of pocket.

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