Building Safety Act 2022 — leaseholder cost protections
- Qualifying leaseholders: protected if they owned 3 or fewer UK residential properties on 14 February 2022 — buy-to-let landlords with 4+ properties do not qualify and may face service charge demands
- Protected works: removal and replacement of unsafe cladding, interim safety measures (waking watch, fire alarms), legal costs of recovering from developers — cannot be charged to qualifying leaseholders
- Developer remediation obligation: developers who built defective buildings are legally obliged (under the Developer Remediation Contract and BSA 2022) to fund remediation
- Building Safety Levy: developers pay a levy on new residential development to fund remediation where the developer cannot be found or is insolvent
- Leaseholder deed of certificate: qualifying leaseholders must provide this to the freeholder to trigger the legal protections — complete it promptly if you believe you qualify
Landlords with 4+ properties
Buy-to-let landlords who owned more than 3 UK residential properties on 14 February 2022 are not qualifying leaseholders under the Building Safety Act 2022. They may face service charge demands for their share of remediation costs — potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds in severely affected buildings. Seek specialist leasehold legal advice immediately if you receive such a demand.
EWS1 — external wall assessment and mortgage impact
- EWS1 outcome A: limited combustibility — building is mortgageable at standard terms
- EWS1 outcome B: requires further investigation or remediation — building is unlikely to be mortgageable until remediation is complete
- Required by most lenders for multi-storey blocks with any cladding doubt — RICS guidance clarified it is not required for all blocks but many lenders still require it
- Self-certification: lower-risk buildings (no cladding concerns per fire risk assessment) may qualify for self-certification by the valuer rather than full EWS1
- Impact on sale/remortgage: a BTL flat in a B-outcome building cannot typically be sold to a mortgage buyer or remortgaged until remediation is complete
Responsible Person and higher-risk building regime
- Responsible Person (RP): for common parts of a leasehold block, the RP is typically the freeholder or managing agent — not individual flat owners
- Fire Safety Act 2021: extended the FSO to include external walls — RP must carry out fire risk assessment covering the external wall system
- Waking watch: where fire safety risks exist but remediation is pending, the RP may need 24-hour waking watch patrols — costs protected for qualifying leaseholders under BSA 2022
- Higher-risk buildings (18m+/7+ storeys): must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator, have an Accountable Person, comply with safety case requirements — criminal penalties for non-compliance
- Accountable Person: typically the freeholder for a leasehold block — individual flat owners are not the AP for common parts unless they are also the freeholder