Major housebuilders have told the government they will refuse to sign the contract drawn up by officials to make their £2bn cladding pledge a reality unless it is radically re-drafted.

The draft legal contract, published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) last month, is designed to bring legal force to a heads of terms pledge, agreed with the department in late March and now signed by a total of 48 developers, to repair fire safety issues on all buildings going back 30 years, without public funding.

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