The owner of firetrap flats where residents were hit with £200,000 cladding bills faces official action.
Checks after the Grenfell disaster found combustible cladding and flammable insulation at the 14-storey Vista Tower in Stevenage, Herts.
Residents in its 73 flats received service charge demands of up to £208,000 but £15million repairs have not begun.
This has prompted government legal action against freehold owner Grey GR Partnership Ltd.
It is the first firm targeted by a taskforce that pursues those who “repeatedly refuse to fix buildings”. Another 22 are being probed.
Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke said: “The lives of over 100 people living in Vista Tower have been put on hold for over two years whilst they wait for Grey GR to remediate unsafe cladding.”
Sophie Bichener, 30, who owns a two-bed flat, added: “We need the building to be made safe and we shouldn’t be the ones paying for it.”
It is not known how many leasehold residents have paid the huge service charges. Grey GR, which is ultimately owned by the £37bn rail pension fund Railpen, said it was “surprised and disappointed” to receive a 21-day notice of intended legal action.
It added: “The safety of residents in their homes has been and remains an utmost priority.”
