Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 3:13 pm on 23 September 2020.
Minister, this is one of the most significant consequentials that the Welsh Government has received in the fifth Senedd, and whilst I can accept that you may not have needed the whole £58 million, because we have a different pattern to England, a substantial amount of that is required. As you dither and, frankly, deflect the concerns of the leaseholders into some sort of long-term plan to improve the system—which I agree with, incidentally—we have an immediate problem now. Fire insurance has gone up tenfold in some of these places, so the tenants are facing a £1,000 bill for their contribution to that aspect of the service charge. It's astonishing. And then the capital costs they face can go from anything from £10,000 upwards towards £40,000, and there is a fire enforcement order imminent. They need help now, you've been given the money, you should pass it on in an appropriate scheme now.