A new building safety regulator given powers to prosecute rule-breaking developers and take their properties off the market has been blasted by Ipswich Cladiators for not solving the fire-safety crisis.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick unveiled the Building Safety Bill on Monday that contains plans to avert a further tragedy like the Grenfell Tower blaze, which killed 72 people in 2017.
The national regulator established by the Bill will have powers to prosecute or use civil penalties against any business that breaks the rules and compromises public safety, the Ministry of Housing said.
Officials said the regulator will be able to remove properties from the market if they are deemed to have defects.
The change will be retrospective so people who live in a property completed in 2010 will have until 2025 to sue a rogue builder or developer.
But Ipswich Cladiator spokesman Alex Dickin, whose first home at Cardinal Lofts is now worthless due to fire safety issues, claims it will not help homeowners in the town.
Mr Dickin said: "Allowing residents additional years to sue their developer is a poor attempt to cover-up the nightmare homeowners are facing.
"We expect none of the 19 blocks in Ipswich will be able to benefit from this extension, this is either due to buildings being signed off more than 15 years ago or that the developer itself no longer exists (from going bust or dissolving and forming another company).
"Even if anyone is eligible to use this new ability for recourse, legal costs will be very expensive. It's likely that most leaseholder disposable income would have been obliterated by the costs of interim measures and increased insurance premiums."
He added: '"The new Building Safety Regulator is positive news for future developments and may ensure our current housing crisis never happens again. However, for the leaseholders of 19 affected buildings in Ipswich, this regulator has been introduced far too late.
"Years of extremely weak regulations have contributed to our modern apartment buildings being constructed with dangerous materials and a lack of fire-stopping design."
Ipswich MP Tom Hunt believes: "There are still some big question marks over the protection of leaseholders."
Mr Hunt, who defied whips on the Fire Safety Bill, has not confirmed whether or not he will back the government's plan, but said he was doing further research on it.
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