Remediation Bill proposes stronger enforcement to tackle unsafe cladding

New legislation introduced to Parliament would place clearer duties on those responsible for buildings to address unsafe cladding, strengthen enforcement and allow public authorities to step in where they fail to act.

The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill would also require clearer information for residents about planned remediation work and timescales.

The Bill is not yet law and may change as Parliament considers it. Its main proposals for assessing and remediating unsafe external walls would apply to buildings in England.

The Bill would require those responsible to ensure external wall fire risks are assessed within a specified timeframe and take the necessary steps to address identified risks as soon as reasonably practicable.

These duties would generally cover buildings with at least 2 homes, at least 11 metres high or 5 storeys, completed before 28 June 2022. Exceptions would include external walls already remediated, or required to be remediated, under a developer remediation contract.

Responsibility would sit with whoever is legally required to repair or maintain the external walls. This could include a freeholder, another landlord, a right to manage company or a residents’ management company.

The proposals would also support consistent external wall assessments, with audits to check their quality.

Where the new remediation duty applies, those responsible would have to prepare a remediation compliance plan.

The plan would set out the steps required to carry out remediation, any temporary safety measures and a proposed timetable. Those responsible would have to make it available and take reasonable steps to give leaseholders and other residential tenants a copy.

The Bill would give regulators additional powers to act where those responsible fail to meet the new duties. These include financial penalties and criminal offences, subject to safeguards such as a defence of reasonable excuse.

It would also enable regulations allowing the First-tier Tribunal to impose financial penalties of up to £500,000 for failure to comply with a remediation order.

A proposed “remediation backstop” would allow Homes England or a local housing authority to apply to the tribunal for powers to carry out external wall remediation.

This would be a last-resort measure for cases where those responsible have failed to comply with specified legal requirements. A tribunal would need to make a remediation management order before the authority could take over the work.

The government’s accompanying guidance says existing Building Safety Act 2022 protections against remediation costs would continue to apply under this arrangement, subject to the existing eligibility rules.

The Bill would introduce a register of medium-rise residential buildings in England to help identify buildings that may need cladding remediation.

Registration fees and related compliance costs could be recovered through service charges under relevant leases. The registration fee has not yet been set.

The Bill would also:

• make it easier for developers and others to pursue claims against cladding manufacturers to recover remediation costs, with liability still needing to be established through the courts
• clarify routes for eligible leaseholders to acquire the right to manage, or seek a tribunal-appointed manager, where a building has become ownerless or the landlord’s interest has passed to the Crown, helping them arrange essential maintenance and safety work, including remediation where needed
• allow tribunal-appointed managers to take on building safety responsibilities for higher-risk buildings where they meet the legal definition of an accountable person

The Bill must pass through Parliament and receive Royal Assent before it becomes law. The proposed changes would then take effect in stages, rather than all at once. Some measures would also need further regulations to set out how they would work.

The government also plans to publish guidance to help those responsible for buildings and regulators understand and carry out their responsibilities.