The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill: What it means for building owners, developers and enforcement authorities

At a glance

The UK Government has published the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill (the Bill) with the objective of delivering on the Government’s Remediation Acceleration Plan. The Bill, which is a very significant development in the UK’s building safety regime, has been released alongside an extensive guide (the Guide).

The key takeaway points are

1. Legal Duty to Assess and Remediate: introducing an express statutory duty for responsible entities to assess and remediate external wall fire safety risks on residential buildings that contain at least two dwellings and are at least 11 metres high (or have at least 5 storeys).
2. Creating a new “Remediation Backstop”, under which local authorities or Homes England may apply to the Tribunal for a Remediation Management Order to enable the authority to carry out works and recover costs from the duty-holder.
3. Introducing new criminal and civil offences and financial penalties for failures to remediate or comply with building safety obligations, including a new £500,000 penalty regime for breach of Remediation Orders.
4. PAS 9980 methodology to be made a legal requirement: the Government intends to make PAS 9980 mandatory for FRAEWs under the new regime, with the requirement to be prescribed by regulations.
5. Medium-rise building register: establishing a new national register for residential buildings which contain at least two residential units and are between11–18 metre in height and have fewer than 7 storeys. The register will be backed by civil and criminal penalties for non-registration or false information.
6. Removing obstructions to developers and others from remediating buildings: creating offences where someone intentionally obstructs the remediation of a building, including the obstruction of a developer who has signed the Developer Self Remediation Contract.
7. No limitations to enforcement: resolving prior uncertainty as to whether there  are limitation periods for parties to issue applications for remediation orders (RO), remediation contribution orders (RCO) and building liability orders (BLO), the Bill confirms that there are no limitations.
8. Wide package of amendments to earlier legislation, including a new £500,000 penalty regime for breach of Remediation Orders; a trust requirement for Remediation Contribution Order funds; and reforms to decants, insolvency notifications, section 24 managers, escheat/bona vacantia, and reforms to make it easier to bring claims against construction product manufacturers.

We’ll continue to track the Bill through Parliament and report on key developments.

For a deeper dive into the Bill from our BSA experts, please read on below.

To discuss how the Bill may affect your portfolio, your obligations, and enforcement actions, please contact your usual relationship partner or Walker Morris contact, or any of the authors of this alert.

Understanding the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill

Next year will see the 10 year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower tragedy where a fire broke out at a 23 storey residential tower block in West London.  The fire resulted in 72 fatalities together with personal injuries to many other people.

The Government’s response to the subsequent commissioned Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt, was to introduce new legislation in the form of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022).

As the Guide accompanying the new Bill acknowledges, “progress in identifying and remediating buildings with unsafe cladding has been inconsistent.  In some cases, legal framework gaps have made it difficult to identify those responsible for buildings and ensure timely action.“  This reflects the Government’s figures which, in August 2026, reported that 46.6% of buildings requiring remediation are yet to see work commence.

The Government says the Bill is being introduced with three objectives:

• to identify all buildings with unsafe cladding
• to fix buildings faster
• to support residents.

The Government has committed £5.15 billion to remediate buildings in England, and the cost to the 53 signatories of the Developer Remediation Contract is estimated at £4.2 billion.

A deep dive into the Bill’s key takeaways

1. The new legal duty to remediate

Scope and responsible entities

The duty will apply to self-contained residential buildings, or self-contained parts of buildings, in England which contain at least two dwellings and are at least  11 metres in height or have at least 5 storeys. It covers both private and social-sector buildings. The duty doesn’t apply where the external walls have been, or are required to be, remediated under a Developer Remediation Contract, because equivalent requirements are already in place.

The duty falls on the party required under a lease, or by virtue of an enactment, to repair or maintain the external walls or the relevant part of them (the responsible entity). The responsible entity may be a freeholder, an intermediate landlord, a right-to-manage company, or a resident management company.

Duty to assess

Responsible entities must assess their buildings for fire-safety risks within a fixed window — between 16 May 2022 and a date that will be 12 months after Royal Assent. Where recommended by a fire risk assessment, they must commission a Fire Risk Assessment of External Walls (FRAEW). Assessments that already comply, including those produced for Government remediation schemes, won’t need to be repeated.

All FRAEWs recommending mitigation or remediation must be submitted to Homes England for audit by the assessment deadline. For the first time, Homes England will also be able to audit a proportion of FRAEWs that conclude no work is required. It will perform these functions directly in London by agreement with the Mayor of London.

Remediation Compliance Plans

Where a FRAEW recommends remedial work, the responsible entity must publish a Remediation Compliance Plan within 15 months of Royal Assent, setting out interim measures, required remediation steps and a proposed timetable. Where the responsible entity is a body corporate, the plan must identify the individual responsible for compliance, information about beneficial ownership and corporate-group portfolio information. The plan must be shared proactively with residents and leaseholders, and the cost of producing it can’t be passed on to qualifying leaseholders.

Duty to remediate and mitigate

Responsible entities will be required to carry out the recommendations in the FRAEW, and to implement any recommended interim measures, as soon as reasonably practicable. Regulations and statutory guidance will define the “required remediation steps” and what counts as “as soon as reasonably practicable” in that context.

2. The Remediation Backstop

Where the person responsible for remediation has failed to comply with its statutory remediation obligations, the Bill creates a last-resort regime under which local authorities or Homes England (the Remediation Authorities) can apply to the Tribunal for a Remediation Management Order to carry out the works themselves.

Compliance failures that could trigger the backstop include non-compliance with notices under section 36 of the Building Act 1984, Housing Act 2004 improvement notices, Fire Safety Order enforcement notices, BSA 2022 compliance notices, First-tier Tribunal Remediation Orders, and the new legal duty to remediate.

Before applying for a Remediation Management Order, the Remediation Authority must serve a remediation notice giving the duty-holder three months to provide information on steps taken and make representations. Thereafter, the authority may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Remediation Management Order granting the authority power to do anything the duty-holder could ordinarily do in relation to external walls — including access, third-party dealings, and (potentially) suspension of the duty-holder’s powers.

Local authorities do already have enforcement powers, under Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004, to require hazards to be remedied and, in certain circumstances, to arrange remedial works themselves. However, the need to fund remediation works upfront may, in practice, limit local authorities’ use of those powers.  Under the new regime, the Bill indicates that where a Remediation Management Order is applied for, funding may be obtained through Government funding schemes and, thereafter, where available, the costs recovered from the duty-holder.

3. New offences and financial penalties

Failure to comply with mitigation or remediation duties without reasonable excuse will be a criminal offence, with escalating financial penalties and rights of appeal.

Failure to mitigate or progress remediation on an 11-metre-plus building will carry criminal liability, with a maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment. As an alternative to prosecution, regulators may impose a civil financial penalty of up to £500,000. A “reasonable excuse” defence will be available and will likely protect responsible entities acting in good faith, for example where remediation is delayed by supply chain or contractor shortages. Where the responsible entity is a freeholder, penalty costs can’t be passed on to leaseholders. Where failure results from the consent, connivance or neglect of a director of a corporate responsible entity, that director may also be prosecuted.

Remediation Order enforcement

Regulations will enable the First-tier Tribunal to impose civil penalties of up to £500,000 for non-compliance with a Remediation Order, with successive penalties for continuing breaches, and penalties of up to £40,000 for failure to provide compliance information. The measure will apply to new and existing Remediation Orders where non-compliance continues.

4. PAS9980 methodology to be made a legal requirement

The Bill enables regulations to prescribe the requirements for a compliant FRAEW, by reference to a standard set by the British Standards Institution or a similar document. The Guide states that the Government intends to use this power to make the PAS 9980 methodology mandatory by regulation.

5. Medium-rise (11–18 metre) building register

There’s currently a register for higher risk buildings – i.e. buildings 18 metres or taller. The Bill empowers the Secretary of State to create a register of occupied medium-rise buildings — i.e. residential buildings in England with two or more dwellings that are between 11 and 18 metres tall or have at least 5 but fewer than 7 storeys. The registration duty will fall on the owner or the party legally obliged to repair the common parts, defaulting to the party responsible for the structure and exterior.

Non-registration or failure to update information attracts civil penalties of up to £7,000, rising to £40,000 or prosecution for continued non-compliance. Knowingly providing false or misleading information is an offence liable to an unlimited fine and/or a custodial sentence up to the general magistrates’ court limit.

The new register is expected to go live approximately 8–10 months after Royal Assent, following secondary legislation. The registration fee is expected to be similar to, or lower than, the current £251 charge for higher-risk buildings.

6. Removing obstructions to third parties remediating buildings

Obstruction offence

A new offence will apply where a person intentionally obstructs the assessment or remediation of a building with serious external fire-safety risks, for example by refusing or delaying access, withholding third-party consents, or raising unreasonable disputes about scope of works. Individuals will face fines of up to £40,000; corporate obstructors may face penalties calibrated to worldwide revenue. A “reasonable excuse” defence protects good-faith disputes about safety, access or scope.

Many developers who have signed the Developer Remediation Contract have faced difficulties with access to assess the buildings and to carry out works, in part due to the difficulty in obtaining insurance to cover initial intrusive investigations and then the remedial works.  The new offence may create a route for developers to address intentional obstruction and to carry out remediation works without unnecessary delays.

7. No limitation periods for enforcements

The Bill clarifies that no Limitation Act 1980 period applies to Remediation Orders, Remediation Contribution Orders or Building Liability Orders. It therefore removes a long-standing area of uncertainty.

8. Amendments to earlier legislation

Remediation Contribution Order funds held in trust

To prevent Remediation Contribution Order payments being lost to general creditors on landlord insolvency, the Bill requires those funds to be held in trust for the remediation purposes specified in the order. Guidance for trustees will be published.

Insolvency and liquidation notifications

The existing section 125A BSA 2022 notification duty is extended to voluntary arrangements and moratoriums: Responsible Persons of 11-metre-plus buildings entering those processes must notify local regulators within 14 calendar days. Liquidators appointed over the owner of a residential building must send a “Notice of Disclaimer” to local regulators within 7 business days (and to the Building Safety Regulator for higher-risk buildings).

Section 24 Managers as Accountable Persons

The Bill amends the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 and the BSA 2022 so that a section 24 manager may be treated as the Accountable Person for a higher-risk building, where the statutory definition is met. This applies to both new and existing section 24 orders and should resolve a well-known operational gap where management responsibility has transferred, but building safety duties remain with another party.

Escheat and bona vacantia

The Bill clarifies that leaseholders can still acquire the Right to Manage (where eligible), and that the Tribunal can appoint a section 24 manager, where the freehold has become subject to escheat or bona vacantia. This opens a route to management, maintenance and remediation funding where the freeholder has been dissolved or liquidated.

Construction Product Manufacturers

Section 149 of the BSA 2022 was intended to allow claims against cladding product manufacturers but has produced very few claims. Stakeholders have cited proof-of-liability difficulties, reliance by manufacturers on technical compliance arguments, and the absence of a clear route for parties, such as developers, to claim.

The Bill seeks to address these challenges by (amongst other measures):

• opening section 149 to direct claims by developers and others who have funded remediation, in addition to those with a legal interest in the building;
• confirming that Building Liability Orders can be used in section 149 claims, allowing liability to be extended to associated companies where just and equitable; and
• empowering courts to order companies to produce relevant product information to support claims.

Implementation timeline

Headline commencement dates are noted in the Guide and summarised below. Many detailed rules will depend on secondary legislation, which the Government anticipates making within one year of Royal Assent.

What this means for you

For building owners and responsible entities

Mapping of portfolios against the 11-metre / 5-storey threshold and the pre-28 June 2022 completion test should begin now, together with a review of repairing obligations to confirm who is the responsible entity for each building. FRAEWs produced since 16 May 2022 should be checked against the PAS 9980 methodology to determine whether re-assessment will be required. Governance arrangements should be reviewed so that a specific director can be identified in the Remediation Compliance Plan and corporate-group information can be assembled on a defensible basis.

For developers and other remediation funders

The section 149 reforms open a materially broader route to recover remediation costs from product manufacturers. Historic remediation spend should be reviewed to identify candidates for recovery, and documentation and product-provenance records preserved.

Developers bound by the Developer Remediation Contract may find some of the reforms assist with access and remediation.

For those responsible for enforcement, such as local authorities

Enforcement authorities should begin identifying buildings within scope, reviewing existing enforcement cases and considering how the new duties and Remediation Management Order regime will interact with their existing powers. Local authorities will also need to consider the resources required to exercise their new enforcement functions.

For construction product manufacturers

Construction product manufacturers should expect a significant increase in section 149 claim activity, including from developers for the first time. Product records, test data, marketing materials and historic certification positions should be reviewed, insurance arrangements stress-tested, and reserving policies revisited.

The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill: Next steps, and how we can help

We are tracking the Bill through Parliament and will issue further alerts on any key developments, such as the Explanatory Notes, the detailed clause-by-clause position, and secondary legislation.

Our BSA experts are uniquely placed to help you to successfully navigate all of the legal, regulatory and practical/operational changes brought about by the Bill. Our cross-disciplinary BSA expertise brings together long-standing, specialist experience and success in providing strategic risk management, transactional and dispute resolution advice for industry participants in all areas of the sector, and has contributed to our in-depth understanding of all parties’ commercial perspectives.

Please contact your usual relationship partner or Walker Morris contact, or any of the authors of this alert, to discuss how the Bill may affect your estate, your transactions, your financings or your product liability exposure.

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This alert is based on the Government’s published Guide to the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill and does not constitute legal advice. The Bill is subject to amendment during its passage through Parliament. Many of its measures will be given effect through secondary legislation and statutory guidance, which may change the detail set out above.