Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022
Relevant Defects
One of the provisions within the Act is for Leaseholder protection and quotes, ‘ you should not pay any outstanding invoice for historical cladding or non-cladding building safety costs that were caused during the construction or refurbishment of your building’. Government Building Safety Act 2022 Leaseholder Protection.
For a defect within a building to be defined as a ‘relevant defect’, it must meet all of the following criteria:
- It puts people’s safety at risk from the spread of fire, or structural collapse
- It has arisen from work done to a building, including the use of inappropriate or defective products, during its construction, or any later works (such as refurbishment or remediation)
- It has been created in the 30 years prior to the leaseholder protections coming into force (meaning the defect had to be created from 28 June 1992 to 27 June 2022)
It relates to at least one of the following types of works:
- The initial construction of the building
- The conversion of a non-residential building into a residential building
- Any other works undertaken or commissioned by or on behalf of the building owner.
Defects that have arisen in relation to professional services are also covered by the definition of relevant defect.
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
This includes some major changes in regulations for blocks of flats of any height, blocks over 11 metres and blocks over 18 metres. The regulations will make it a requirement in law for responsible persons of high-rise blocks of flats to provide information to Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) to assist them to plan and, if needed, provide an effective operational response.
Also, the regulations will require responsible persons in multi-occupied residential buildings which are high-rise buildings (as defined in The Fire Safety (England) Regulations as a building at least 18 metres in height or at least 7 storeys) as well as those above 11 metres in height, to provide additional safety measures. In all multi-occupied residential buildings, the regulations require responsible persons to provide residents with fire safety instructions and information on then importance of fire doors. The regulations apply to existing buildings, and requirements for new build blocks may be different.
For more details around specific requirements of both pieces of legislation and other regulations and how this will affect you, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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