Mr. Pat Montague:

There would maybe be regular maintenance work being done, but even if that is the case, one of the issues is whether those carrying it out have a right to do so, given that the management company does not actually own those common areas.

One of the challenges here is that the model put forward for the remediation schemes is based upon granting money to owners' management companies to get people to do works on their behalf. The problem is that, if the owners' management companies do not own the common areas, which is nearly a quarter of them, it is a huge hole in the foundation stone of that model. I do not have an answer to that at the moment, but I would certainly say that we may need to look at how the scheme is being thought about because, frankly, it is unconscionable from my point of view that owners, who through no fault of their own, have been left with defective apartments, are being denied emergency fire safety works because the owners' management company does not own the common areas. That is putting bad upon bad. They have already been let down in the sense that the defects arose because of shoddy building work and ineffective monitoring and oversight by building control.

That is one set of wrongs. It is unconscionable, as I said, that they would be denied the opportunity to get fire safety works done so that they can remain safely in their homes simply because of this issue. A fix needs to be found. I do not know what it is yet but it is urgently needed.