29 June 2022
On 28 June 2022, the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force.
Qualifying leaseholders pay nothing to remove dangerous cladding, and the amount they can be asked to contribute to fixing other historical building safety defects is firmly capped.
Before qualifying leaseholders are asked to contribute to these costs, landlords must provide a formal legal certificate, or demonstrate that the costs do not relate to works covered by the Act.
The government are also implementing a series of schemes to protect non-qualifying leaseholders from remediation costs, if remediation is needed.
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said:
“Today marks a major turning point for building safety in this country, as we introduce a tough new regime to make homes safe and help rid the sector of bad practice once and for all.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent leaseholders now have the legal protection they rightly deserve, freeing them from a financial burden they should never have faced.
I’m pleased that most of the largest developers have agreed to play their part in solving this.
But there is more to do – we are focusing intensively on work with lenders to unlock the mortgage market and empower leaseholders to take their next step on the property ladder, and we will remain vigilant if anyone fails to act on the pledges they have made.”
The Secretary of State has also written to freeholders, building landlords and managing agents setting out their responsibilities under the Building Safety Act.
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