Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has announced new proposals to help more leaseholders to fix serious building and fire safety defects.

Existing rules already protect many leaseholders from footing the bill for fixing historic building safety defects, but some people still fall through gaps in the system due to different forms of ownership not covered by the law.

The government is now aiming narrow these gaps and give people at risk of paying for problems they did not cause more financial support.

Construction product manufacturers connected to historic unsafe cladding and insulation products will also be made to contribute more towards putting affected buildings right.

The proposals were unveiled in Parliament during the second reading of the Remediation of Unsafe Cladding Bill.

The measures are designed to help leaseholders who buy a flat as their only home but miss out on costs protections because of the previous owners’ circumstances; leaseholders in collectively owned and enfranchised buildings who can face some of the biggest bills for fixing fire-safety problems and leaseholders with multiple properties that have non-cladding building safety problems they did not cause and are not currently protected under the Building Safety Act.

Building Safety Minister Baroness Blake said: "We are going further to protect more homeowners from unfair costs and make construction product manufacturers contribute towards putting things right.

"Alongside new powers to force those responsible to fix unsafe buildings, these measures will help give residents the safety and security they deserve."