As a qualifying leaseholder, you are protected by the Building Safety Act 2022 from the cost of replacing your building’s unsafe cladding. You may also have protection against other, non-cladding, historical safety defects, or these will be subject to a cap.
The Act came into force on 28 June 2022 for relevant buildings with relevant historical safety defects. It ensures that:
- developers pay to fix buildings they developed or refurbished even if they no longer own them
- companies and building owners associated with those developers must pay for fixing historical safety defects – preventing the use of complex corporate structures to avoid liability
- funding for remediating unsafe cladding is available where developers cannot be identified
- leaseholders are protected from crippling bills for historical safety defects
You can check if you qualify for protections here.
Your protections
Qualifying leaseholders are protected from all cladding system remediation costs. You are also exempt from all historical remediation costs if on 14 February 2022:
- the value of your lease was less than £325,000 in Greater London or £175,000 elsewhere in England
- your landlord has a group net worth of more than £2 million per relevant building
The Act ensures that any contribution required from qualifying leaseholders for non-cladding defects and interim measures (including waking watch costs) is firmly capped and spread over 10 years, with costs already paid out since 28 June 2017 counting towards the cap. If remediation costs exceed the cap, building owners must make up the difference.
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