The Building Safety Act – key updates for 2025

The Building Safety Act gained Royal Assent in April 2022 and has subsequently been brought into force through a raft of secondary legislation. Whilst developers, landlords and residential asset managers are just about getting to grips with the existing requirements placed upon them, such as leaseholder certificates and gateways processes, there is still a lot more to come.

2025 will see even more building safety related requirements which will impact more of the property and construction industry than before. With significant consequences for non-compliance and new legislation that is further reaching it is critical to start planning for it early. So, what can you expect in 2025?

Government Remediation Action Plan

The Governmemt published its Remediation Action Plan (the “Plan”) in December 2024 detailing its proposed approach to expedite the slow remediation of dangerous cladding on residential buildings. The Plan listed three core objectives as:

1) Fix buildings faster;

2) Identify all buildings with unsafe cladding; and

3) Support residents.

The Remediation Bill is anticipated for Summer 2025 and is expected to widen the net of registration of tall residential buildings from a minimum height of 18 metres to 11 metres which is a significant change for the property industry meaning more people need to be on top of the Building Safety Regulator’s register and its requirements.

In summary, The Remediation Bill is expected (amongst other things) to legislate to:

• Create a legal duty on those responsible for buildings 11 metres and over to take the necessary steps to fix their buildings within clear timescales.
• Expand the existing higher-risk building register by introducing requirements around providing information relating to beneficial ownership.
• Require the registration of 11-18 metres residential buildings which in addition to the existing register of residential buildings over 18 metres will provide a complete register of relevant buildings.

Building Safety Levy

The much-anticipated Building Safety Levy (the “Levy”) legislation is due to be published in March/April 2025 and be enacted by Autumn 2025. The intention of the Levy is to ensure that residential developers contribute to the remediation of pre-existing building safety defects, including replacing unsafe cladding, thereby protecting taxpayers and leaseholders from bearing the financial burden.

The Levy will affect all residential developments which require building control approval, regardless of height meaning that this will have a far-wider impact across the sector than to date. It is expected that all residential developments with 10 or more plots/bed units and all purpose-built student accommodation with 30 or more bed units will be caught. Some exemptions are expected including NHS facilities, care homes and military barracks.

The developer for whom the construction project is being carried out will be responsible for payment of the Levy to the local authority in which the projects sits. The Government anticipates that the Levy will raise £3billion over the next ten years but the rates themselves have not been published at the time of writing.

As well as potentially being another barrier in fixing the housing shortfall this is proving to already be tricky for developers as the Levy is expected to apply to developments that are in for planning permission now. However, the rates applicable by the Levy have not yet been announced meaning developers of much needed residential schemes will face an additional but as yet unknown bill to pay.

Building Assessment Certificates

After a higher-risk residential building (at least 7 storeys or 18 metres high with 2 or more residential units) in England is registered, the Building Safety Regulator (the “Regulator”) will ensure the building’s Principal Accountable Persons (“PAPs”) and Accountable Persons (“APs”) are managing relevant risks and are working to keep all residents safe.

The Regulator will carry out checks and inspections and if the appropriate standards are met they will issue a Building Assessment Certificate to those PAPs that have been asked to apply for one.

The Building Assessment Certificate provides a snapshot of the building’s compliance with specific legal duties at the time of assessment. The key purposes of the Certificate are to:

• Provide a transparent assessment of a building’s safety status.
• Identify potential safety hazards within a building.
• Ensure the implementation of necessary actions to mitigate identified risks.
• Offer assurance to residents, visitors and the public about a building’s safety.

The Regulator is approaching Building Assessment Certificates by prioritising buildings that meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Over 30 metres to 49.99 metres high with more than 217 residential units.
• Over 50 metres high with more than 11 residential units.
• Clad with combustible aluminium composite material.
• Large panel systems built between 1956 and 1973 with a gas supply, and it is unclear if reinforcement work has been carried out.

The Regulator will then look at buildings in the following order:

• 30 metres to 49.99 metres high with between 11 to 216 residential units, or 18 metres to 29.99 metres high with more than 378 residential units.
• 18 metres to 29.99 metres high with between 52 to 377 residential units.
• 18 metres to 29.99 metres high with between 25 to 51 residential units.
• At least 18 metres high with between 2 to 24 residential units.

Impact on conveyancing

As Building Assessment Certificates become more common place they will become an integral part of the conveyancing process for purchasers and vendors of flats in higher-risk buildings.

A well-advised purchaser carrying out their due diligence will want to review the Building Assessment Certificate to satisfy itself that all is in good order. This will come in addition to the leaseholder and landlord certificates that confirm (or not) the qualifying status of a lease for service charge caps which are now a crucial part of buying and selling flats in higher-risk buildings.

The Regulator has advised, however, that Building Assessment Certificates for lower buildings could take years to be put in place. Therefore advice should be sought from a conveyancer well-versed in the Building Safety Act as to their applicability to a specific transaction.