Fixing cladding and safety defects: buildings at least 11 metres or 5 storeys (England)
Recovering remediation costs and other support
Help with buildings insurance
If your building has known fire safety defects, your building’s insurance may be affected. For example, you may have to pay increased premiums before fixes are complete. Your landlord or residents’ management company must still maintain adequate buildings insurance cover.
A fire safety reinsurance facility is helping to improve the availability of insurance for buildings at least 11 metres high (or at least 5 storeys) waiting for fire safety issues to be fixed.
In England, over 14 insurance brokers have also pledged to:
- cap their commissions at 15%
- stop sharing commissions with managing agents, landlords and freeholders
- share policy information with leaseholders on request, in line with Financial Conduct Authority regulations
What to do
Contact the person or company that arranges your buildings insurance and ask them to raise this with their broker.
Interim Measures Alarm Fund
If your building currently relies on a waking watch, it might be eligible for government funding to install a fire alarm system through the Interim Measures Alarm Fund.
Building warranties
If your building is still within its warranty period (typically 10 to 12 years from completion) defects in the original construction may be covered.
Check with your warranty provider. The management company or managing agent should be able to tell you whether a warranty is in place and who the provider is.
Taking legal action
Defective Premises Act claims
If your building was not fit for habitation because of defective work when it was built, converted, or refurbished, the building owner (or you, if you own a share of the freehold) may be able to bring a legal claim against the original developer or contractor responsible.
The Building Safety Act 2022 extended the time limit for such claims under the Defective Premises Act 1972 from 6 years to 30 years. This applies to all buildings regardless of building height.
You will need specialist legal advice to pursue a claim.
Building liability orders
If the original developer has restructured or dissolved a company to avoid liability, the courts can make a building liability order to hold associated companies responsible.
You will need specialist legal advice to get a building liability order.
Remediation contribution orders
You may be able to get an order from the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for a remediation contribution order.
This order requires the developer, your landlord, the landlord on 14 February 2022, or anyone associated with these to:
- contribute towards the cost of fixing relevant defects
- make payments within a specified timeframe
Remediation contribution orders can be used against companies or partnerships (not individual people).
Costs
Each side pays their own legal costs.
The Building Safety Act 2022 stops landlords from passing on their legal costs to leaseholders via the service charge. The tribunal can award costs if a party has acted unreasonably, but this is rare.
Applying to the tribunal
Get legal advice on remediation contribution orders and if they’re the right action to take.
You would apply using tribunal form BSA2 and need to include:
- evidence that you and your building are eligible
- evidence that the order you are seeking is against someone legally liable to contribute to the costs of the remediation
- confirmation of who would receive the awarded funds and how they would use them
- Last updated:
- 29 April 2026
- Next review:
- 29 April 2028
Related content
How the protections limit what you pay for unsafe cladding and historic safety defects
Advice guideCheck your rights if your landlord wants to charge you for fire safety work
Advice guide