ONE ACT, THREE BIG SHIFTS
The Building Safety Act 2022, in plain English
The widest overhaul of building safety law in a generation. It built a new regulator, put a tougher regime around higher-risk buildings, and created new duties for whoever holds the building. What it does, who it lands on, and what it does not mean.
So what is the Building Safety Act?
WHERE IT CAME FROM
The Building Safety Act 2022 received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. It is the government's answer to the Grenfell Tower fire and Dame Judith Hackitt's review, which found a system where no one clearly owned the safety of a building through its life. The Act sets out to fix that. It does three big things.
It created a new Building Safety Regulator. It put a tougher regime around the design, construction and occupation of the tallest residential buildings. And it changed the wider law on remediation, on what leaseholders can be charged, and on how long owners have to bring a claim over defective work.
Some of it touches every building. The heaviest duties fall on higher-risk buildings.
Does this reach your building?
WHO IT LANDS ON
Parts of the Act reach almost every building. Section 156 strengthened the Fire Safety Order for the premises it already covered, including the common parts of blocks of flats, and the leaseholder protections and remediation rules apply well below the high-rise threshold. So some of the Act is yours whatever you hold.
The heavy regime is aimed at higher-risk buildings: in England, a building at least 18 metres tall or with at least seven storeys, containing at least two residential units. Hospitals, care homes, hotels and secure institutions sit outside it. For those buildings the duties fall on the Accountable Person, and where a building has more than one, on the Principal Accountable Person, the one responsible for its structure and exterior. In a block of flats that is usually the freeholder, the management company or the managing agent acting for them.
What you must do
CORE DUTIES
These are the core duties on the Accountable Person for an occupied higher-risk building. They run for the life of the building, not as a one-off.
1
Register the building
With the regulator
Register every occupied higher-risk building with the Building Safety Regulator. Occupying an unregistered building is a criminal offence. Existing buildings had to be registered by 1 October 2023.
2
Hold a building assessment certificate
When directed
Apply for a building assessment certificate when the Regulator directs you to, and display it in the building once granted.
3
Prepare a safety case report
Identify and manage risk
Assess the building's fire and structural safety risks and show how you are keeping them controlled, in a safety case report you keep current.
4
Report occurrences
Mandatory reporting
Set up a system to report structural and fire safety occurrences that could put lives at risk to the Regulator.
5
Keep the golden thread
One source of truth
Hold accurate, up-to-date building information digitally, so the people who need it can find it across the building's life.
6
Engage residents
A published strategy
Produce and follow a resident engagement strategy, so residents get a say in decisions about their building's safety.
7
Run a complaints system
A clear route
Operate a system for residents to raise building safety concerns, with a route to escalate to the Regulator.
Below the higher-risk threshold you are not in this regime, but the strengthened Fire Safety Order duties and the leaseholder protections can still apply.
What it does not mean
WHERE PEOPLE TRIP UP
It is just about cladding
In reality, cladding remediation is one part. The Act also builds a whole safety regime, ongoing duties in occupation, and lasting changes to liability and leaseholder costs.
It only affects buildings over 18 metres
In reality, the higher-risk regime starts there, but the Fire Safety Order changes, the leaseholder protections and the remediation rules reach well below it.
You can appoint someone to be the Accountable Person
In reality, the role follows whoever holds the repairing obligation for the structure and common parts. You can pay others to do the work, but the legal duty stays with you.
Old defects are all time-barred
In reality, the Act extended the limits. Claims under the Defective Premises Act can reach back 30 years for work completed before June 2022, and 15 years for work since.
These are legal duties, with criminal sanctions behind the worst breaches, enforced by the Building Safety Regulator. If you are unsure whether your building is in scope, get it confirmed before assuming it is not.
GO DEEPER
KEEP READING
Our support
Building safety consultancy
How we help Accountable Persons meet these duties, independent of any remediation works.
See the service →Plain English
Fire safety jargon
Accountable Person, higher-risk building, golden thread, safety case, explained.
Open the jargon buster →The sibling duties
Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022
The other post-Grenfell duties on blocks of flats, scaled by building height.
See the explainer →Not sure which of these duties are yours?
We are an independent fire safety function. No works arm, no remediation to sell, just a clear read on where you stand under the Act.