Fire chiefs have intervened in the financial crisis affecting hundreds of thousands of high-rise leaseholders by urging insurers to think twice before they hike premiums on towers with fire safety problems.

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With some leaseholders facing increases of up to 1,200% in building insurance and others unable to get any cover, the National Fire Chiefs Council has met the Association of British Insurers to argue for a “more informed approach”. The fire chiefs are concerned that insurers have been increasing premiums sharply regardless of the degree of danger uncovered in the wake of the Grenfell Tower.

© Photograph: Anselm Ebulue/Getty Images
More than 70 people died in the Grenfell Tower disaster of 2017 but many other buildings are still covered in dangerous cladding.

One group of leaseholders at the M&M buildings in London saw their premium rise from £100,000 to £700,000, increasing