Building Safety Act 2022: Landlord's Guide
← Part of Landlord Laws & LegislationThe Building Safety Act 2022 was the second major post-Grenfell statute and the most substantial reform of building regulation in decades. It established a new regulatory regime for 'higher-risk buildings' (residential buildings of 18m+ or 7+ storeys), created the Building Safety Regulator within the HSE, introduced the statutory roles of 'Accountable Person' and 'Principal Accountable Person', extended limitation periods under the Defective Premises Act 1972 to 15 years (prospective) and 30 years (retrospective), and introduced substantial protections for leaseholders against fire safety remediation costs. This page covers the higher-risk building threshold, the Building Safety Regulator's three functions, the Accountable Person's duties, the leaseholder protection framework, the extended limitation periods, and the practical consequences for buy-to-let landlords.
What the Act did
The Building Safety Act 2022 was the second major post-Grenfell statute, building on the Fire Safety Act 2021 and producing the most substantial reform of building regulation in the UK for decades. It received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022 and most provisions came into force progressively through 2022 and 2023, with some still being implemented through 2026. The Act is large and structurally complex — over 170 sections plus extensive schedules — and creates an entirely new regulatory regime for "higher-risk buildings", a defined category of large multi-occupied residential buildings that the Act treats as needing specialist oversight beyond the standard building regulations regime.
The Act's drafting reflects a substantial shift in regulatory philosophy. Where the Fire Safety Act 2021 worked by amending an existing statute, the Building Safety Act creates a new regulatory architecture around a new regulator (the Building Safety Regulator), new statutory duty-holders (the "Accountable Person" and "Principal Accountable Person"), new statutory documents (the safety case report, the resident engagement strategy), and new offences with substantial penalties. For freeholders, managing agents, and developers of higher-risk buildings, the Act has produced a step-change in the regulatory burden.
The Act also addressed several broader issues exposed by the Grenfell inquiry: the allocation of responsibility for cladding remediation costs between developers, freeholders, and leaseholders; the extension of limitation periods for claims against developers; the creation of new tenant protections in unsafe buildings; and the introduction of a register of safety case reports. The combined effect is the most significant change to building regulation since the 1984 Act.
Higher-risk buildings — the threshold
The Act's most demanding provisions apply to "higher-risk buildings", defined in section 65 as buildings containing two or more residential units that are:
- At least 18 metres in height, OR
- At least seven storeys.
Either threshold is sufficient. The threshold is calculated from ground level to the floor of the topmost storey containing residential accommodation. Mezzanine floors and similar partial levels are counted in specific ways set out in the Higher-Risk Buildings (Descriptions and Supplementary Provisions) Regulations 2023.
The threshold catches a substantial population of UK residential stock — primarily blocks of flats in cities, social housing tower blocks, and some larger purpose-built rentals. Smaller blocks of flats (typically 3-6 storeys) are outside the higher-risk threshold but remain subject to the Fire Safety Order and other general building safety regulation.
A building is no longer a higher-risk building if it ceases to meet the threshold (e.g. through demolition or restructuring). Conversely, buildings constructed or substantially altered to cross the threshold come within the regime from the date of the alteration.
The Building Safety Regulator
The Act established the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), a new regulator hosted within the Health and Safety Executive. The BSR has three principal functions:
1. Building control authority for higher-risk buildings. The BSR replaces local authorities and approved inspectors as the building control body for design and construction of higher-risk buildings. New construction or major alteration of a higher-risk building requires BSR approval at three "Gateway" points: design (Gateway 1), pre-construction (Gateway 2), and pre-occupation (Gateway 3).
2. In-occupation regulator. Once a higher-risk building is occupied, the BSR registers the building, oversees the Accountable Person's safety case, and enforces compliance through inspections, improvement notices, and prosecutions.
3. Improvement of building safety standards generally. The BSR publishes guidance, supports research, and engages with industry on building safety improvement beyond the higher-risk building regime.
The BSR has substantial enforcement powers. It can issue compliance notices, prohibition notices preventing occupation of a building, and improvement notices requiring specified works. It can also bring criminal prosecutions, with conviction on indictment carrying unlimited fines and up to 2 years' imprisonment for individual duty-holders.
The Accountable Person
Section 71 of the Act creates the role of "Accountable Person" for every higher-risk building. The Accountable Person is the legal entity (typically a freeholder, management company, or RTM company) responsible for the safe occupation of the building.
The Accountable Person's duties include:
- Registering the building with the BSR.
- Producing a "safety case report" — a comprehensive document evidencing how building safety risks are managed.
- Maintaining the safety case continuously and updating it on any significant change.
- Producing a "resident engagement strategy" describing how residents are involved in building safety decisions.
- Producing a complaints procedure for residents.
- Cooperating with the BSR's inspections and information requests.
- Notifying the BSR of "mandatory occurrence reports" — incidents potentially indicating a building safety issue.
Where a higher-risk building has more than one Accountable Person (typically because different parts of the building are owned by different entities), one is designated the "Principal Accountable Person" with overall coordination responsibility.
Failure to comply with Accountable Person duties is a criminal offence carrying unlimited fines on indictment and up to 2 years' imprisonment for individuals. Civil penalties are also available as an alternative to prosecution. The penalties are designed to be deterrent and have been imposed at substantial levels in the early enforcement actions.
Leaseholder protections
Sections 116-127 of the Act introduced substantial protections for leaseholders in buildings with cladding or other fire safety defects. The protections vary by leaseholder category:
- Qualifying leaseholders — those who occupied the property as their main home on 14 February 2022 or own no more than three UK dwellings — receive the strongest protection: complete exemption from cladding remediation costs and capped contributions to other fire safety remediation costs.
- Non-qualifying leaseholders — typically buy-to-let investors with multiple properties — receive less protection. They can still be required to contribute to fire safety remediation, though there are caps based on the property value.
- Costs the building owner can recover from leaseholders are subject to detailed statutory caps and conditions. The cap is currently £15,000 per qualifying leaseholder for fire safety remediation works (other than cladding), with cladding work expected to be paid by the developer or building owner.
The framework is complex and has produced substantial litigation. The principal effect is to shift fire safety remediation costs away from individual flat owners and toward developers, building owners, and the government (through the Building Safety Fund and similar grant programmes).
Extension of limitation periods
Section 135 of the Act extended the limitation period for claims under the Defective Premises Act 1972 substantially:
- Prospective application (claims arising after 28 June 2022): up to 15 years from completion of the work.
- Retrospective application (claims arising before 28 June 2022): up to 30 years from completion of the work, where the cause of action would otherwise be statute-barred.
The extension was designed to allow claims against developers of buildings constructed during the boom years of the 1990s and 2000s where defects (particularly cladding-related defects) had only become apparent after the original limitation period had run. Substantial litigation against major developers has followed and continues.
What this means for ordinary buy-to-let landlords
Most buy-to-let landlords own properties below the higher-risk building threshold and are not directly subject to the Act's most demanding provisions. The practical consequences for them tend to be:
Service charges in blocks of flats. Where the freeholder has had to commission fire risk assessments, EWS1 surveys, or remediation works, costs may flow through the service charge to leaseholders. The leaseholder protections in the Act limit some of these costs but do not eliminate them.
Mortgageability and saleability. Properties in blocks with unresolved fire safety issues or sub-standard EWS1 ratings have been difficult to mortgage or sell. The market position has improved through 2024-2026 as remediation programmes complete, but the issue persists for some buildings.
Insurance availability. Block buildings insurance has become more difficult and more expensive to obtain. Where insurance is unavailable or impossibly expensive, leaseholders may have limited options.
Indirect compliance. A buy-to-let landlord owning a flat in a higher-risk building has no direct duties under the Act but should expect responsiveness from the building's Accountable Person, including engagement opportunities through the resident engagement strategy.