The home owners caught in the cladding trap

• Watch Raveena Ghattaura's report on the Cardinal Lofts development in Ipswich

People living in flats in Ipswich covered in unsafe cladding could continue footing the bill for remedial work after a Fire Safety Bill amendment was rejected in parliament.

It's thought 2,000 properties across the town are affected, with leaseholders facing hiked insurance costs, 24-hour fire wardens and flats which are now unsellable.

Alex Dickin has been fighting a cladding crisis bought his flat in Ipswich in 2016, a year before the Grenfell Tower disaster. When he moved into Cardinal Lofts on the town's waterfront, he wasn't aware the cladding was a fire risk.

Now though, fire marshals now watch over it 24 hours a day and alarms have been installed and it's up to Alex and the other 80 residents to foot the bill 

Alex, together with other residents, was hoping the government would step in to help, but those hopes have been dashed. An amendment to the fire safety bill, which would have protected leaseholders paying the costs, has been rejected by MPs meaning people like Alex will continue to face crippling costs.

He'd love to sell his flat, but with mortgage providers unwilling to lend to potential buyers, it's proving impossible

Local MP Tom Hunt was one of just 32 Conservative MPs to rebel against the government, having seen first hand the situation residents here are facing.

The government has set aside an extra 3.5 billion to remove cladding  from buildings like the one Alex lives in. But experts say it won't scratch the surface, leaving people like Alex to pay the costs with only vague promises of ever getting their money back.