This months article looks at an important piece of legislation – the Building Safety Act 2022 (“the Act”) – which has been a long time coming, but in April 2022 it finally entered into the statute books.
The Act’s background, which runs to a mighty 262 pages, is firmly rooted in the Grenfell Tower tragedy of June 2017, and it is a fundamental overhaul of the building and fire safety regime in this country and focusses on protecting the rights of leaseholders, with the government previously stating that the Act was intended to: “create lasting generational change and set out a clear pathway for the future on how residential buildings should be constructed and maintained.”
Although the Act became law in April 2022, the majority of the Act’s provisions will require secondary legislation to become law and this will probably be phased in over the next 18 months.
The Act has 6 parts and contains provisions “intended to secure the safety of people in or about buildings and to improve the standard of buildings.”
Part 2 contains provision about the building safety regulator and its functions in relation to buildings in England, whilst Part 3 amends the Building Act 1984. Part 4 concerns occupied higher-risk buildings in England, and imposes duties on accountable persons. Part 5 of the Act contains further provisions including:
- Remediation of certain defects (sections 116 to 125: came into force in late June 2022);
- redress (sections 133 to 135: sections 134 and 135 came into force in late June 2022);
- establishment of a new homes ombudsman scheme (sections 136 to 143);
- powers to make provision about construction products (section 146: came into force in late June 2022);
- provisions about the regulation of architects (sections 157 to 159: came into force in late June 2022); and
- provisions about housing complaints (section 160).
One of the provisions of the Act to enter force in April 2022 saw the Health and Safety Executive creating a new construction products regulator, the Building Safety Regulator (“BSR”) (https://www.hse.gov.uk/building-safety/regulator.htm), who will be tasked to oversee the new regime and will be responsible for ensuring that any building safety risks in new and existing high rise residential buildings of 18 metres / 7 storeys and above [that have at least 2 residential units or are hospitals or care homes] are managed effectively and resolved, taking cost into account. The BSR will have the power to remove products form the market whilst requiring developers to be members of a new homes ombudsman scheme.
The Act also gives residents more power to hold builders and developers to account and toughening sanctions against those who threaten their safety:
- The introduction of a series of protections for leaseholders;
- a retrospective right to bring claims against developers for defective works (section 149) for up to 30 years after a building is completed; and
- protecting leaseholders from costs for cladding works.
The Act also gives the government the power to take action against developers not paying to fix fire safety issues, and there are measures to ensure that those people responsible for safety during the design and build operation of high rise residential buildings, are readily identified.
An important section of the Act is section 135 of which amends the limitation periods:
- Where work has already been completed, extending the limitation period for claims brought under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 (“DPA”) from 6 to 30 years.
- For work completed in the future, extending the limitation period for claims brought under section 1 of the DPA from 6 to 15 years.
- Expanding the DPA to include refurbishment and other work carried out on an existing dwelling to a 15 year limitation period.
- The enaction of section 38 of the Building Act 1984, and allowing claims for compensation to be brought for physical damage caused by a breach of building regulations, with a limitation period of 15 years.
There is also a new cause of action (section 148) which will allow claims to be brought where a supplier of a construction product makes a misleading statement concerning the product or a product is manufactured that is inherently defective: a 30-year limitation period applies to past defaults in relation to cladding products; otherwise it is 15 years.
If the Act affects you, or if you think the Act may affect you, I strongly urge you to seek professional advice.
© Michael Gerard 2022
The advice provided is intended to be of a general guide only and should not be viewed as providing a definitive legal analysis.
Author background
Michael is a Solicitor, Chartered Builder & Registered Construction Adjudicator, and is a director at Michael Gerard Law Limited, a solicitors practice regulated by the SRA.