The Department has not done enough to address spiralling insurance costs and ‘nil’ mortgage valuations. Private leaseholders in blocks with dangerous cladding have received ‘nil’ valuations for their properties, meaning they have found it impossible to sell or remortgage, while their insurance premiums have risen over 400% in some cases. The Department’s introduction of an External Wall Fire Review process in December 2019 was designed to provide assurances to lenders and buyers where the external walls of apartment blocks had been inspected for safety. However, qualified professionals have had difficulty accessing the personal indemnity insurance needed to undertake these reviews, which has reduced the Progress in remediating dangerous cladding 7 availability of these inspections. In addition, following changes to departmental guidance to assess and manage the risk of external fire spread to buildings of any height, there is uncertainty whether the External Wall Fire Review process should also now apply to lower-storey buildings. The Department tells us that this is an ‘industry issue’, with efforts to address the problems with the review process being industry-led, but in our view the Department needs to step up and ensure matters are resolved quickly. Recommendation: The Department should ensure that cross-sector work to resolve issues with the External Wall Fire Review process progress at pace. As part of this cross-sector work, the Department must ensure that professionals can acquire indemnity insurance, and leaseholders are not facing escalating insurance premiums. The Department should write to us within three months setting out its assurance that these processes are operating effectively.