The Building Safety Bill received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022 resulting in the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022). While the changes brought about by BSA 2022 are of significant importance to construction lawyers, its provisions will also be highly relevant to banking and finance lawyers acting on real estate finance transactions and other finance transactions involving real estate or parties involved in real estate development. As such, banking and finance lawyers will need to be familiar with certain provisions of BSA 2022 in order to understand: • the effect of the new obligations and liabilities under the BSA 2022 on their borrowers/developer clients and their group companies, and • the potential for lenders to be caught by the provisions in the BSA 2022 regarding liability for defective buildings and the cost of remedying defective building works The BSA 2022 will affect many new real estate finance development facilities in particular and their refinancings. It also has the potential to affect real estate

This Practice Note looks at some of the key issues arising from the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) which may be encountered in property transactions in England. It focuses on the basic principles of BSA 2022 which affect property transactions and contains links throughout to other Practice Notes which provide more detailed coverage of the topics covered. For property transactions in Wales, see Practice Note: Building and Fire Safety—the position in England, Scotland and Wales. This Practice Note is aimed primarily at practitioners dealing with the sale and purchase of a completed (or recently constructed) building or an individual unit within such a building. Similar considerations will apply on the grant of a new lease or a new mortgage or charge—references in this Practice Note to buyer and seller include landlord and tenant or lender and borrower. It considers: • Higher-risk buildings under BSA 2022, Parts 3 and 4 • Relevant buildings under BSA 2022, Part 5 and leaseholder protections • Other considerations arising out of BSA 2022 Note

This Practice Note looks at some of the key issues arising from the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) which may be encountered in residential property transactions in England. It focuses on the basic principles of BSA 2022 which affect residential property transactions and contains links throughout to other Practice Notes which provide more detailed coverage of the topics covered. For guidance on building safety in Wales, see Practice Note: Building and Fire Safety—the position in England, Scotland and Wales. This Practice Note is aimed primarily at practitioners dealing with the sale and purchase of a leasehold flat in an existing building in England which is affected by the provisions of BSA 2022. For further guidance on BSA 2022 and property transactions, see Practice Note: Building Safety Act 2022—key issues for property practitioners. Note that a building does not have to be exclusively residential for BSA 2022 to apply; the application of BSA 2022 or otherwise will need to be considered in transactions involving mixed-use buildings as well as purely

The government introduced the Building Safety Bill (the Bill) to Parliament in July 2021, intending to deliver on the recommendations and principles identified in Dame Judith Hackitt’s ‘Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’, and to address acute concerns regarding building safety that arose from the Grenfell Tower fire in July 2017. The government stated that Bill would bring forth ‘the biggest changes to building safety regulation in a generation’. The Bill received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022, resulting in the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022). BSA 2022 introduces fundamental reforms to the law and regulation of building safety, which seek to ‘secure the safety of people in or about buildings and improve the standard of buildings’. This Practice Note summarises the key aspects of BSA 2022 for construction lawyers, including the reforms to the regulatory regimes and standards for building and fire safety and construction products that it brings forward, and its provisions regarding liability for historic building safety defects. For guidance on BSA 2022 provisions in respect of landlord

The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) case tracker is a list of key landlord and tenant-related BSA 2022 judgments from the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) (FTT) and Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (UT), and the courts, which we consider relevant to property disputes lawyers. Cases are listed in reverse chronological order. The tracker employs the following definitions: • Relevant defect: ie anything done or not done, or used or not used in connection with ‘relevant works’ which causes a building safety risk (ie the spread of fire or the collapse of part or all of the building) • RO: the FTT in England may make a remediation order (RO) on application by an ‘interested person’ (for the purposes of ROs this includes the Secretary of State (in England)), the Building Safety Regulator, the local authority, the fire and rescue authority, persons with a legal or equitable interest in the building, and the Homes and Communities Agency). ROs are orders that ‘relevant landlords’ (which for these purposes means a landlord

The government introduced the Building Safety Bill (the Bill) to Parliament in July 2021, intending to deliver on the recommendations and principles identified in Dame Judith Hackitt’s ‘Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’, and to address acute concerns regarding building safety that arose from the Grenfell Tower fire in July 2017. The government stated that Bill would bring forth ‘the biggest changes to building safety regulation in a generation’. The Bill received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022, resulting in the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022). BSA 2022 introduces fundamental reforms to the law and regulation of building safety, which seek to ‘secure the safety of people in or about buildings and improve the standard of buildings’. While under BSA 2022, s 169(1), the Act extends to England and Wales, the aspects of BSA 2022 covered in this Practice Note do not apply in Wales (see BSA 2022 explanatory notes—Annex A—Territorial extent and application in the UK. Accordingly, this Practice Note summarises the key aspects BSA 2022 in respect of

This Practice Note lists all Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) related legislation and summarises its relevance from a Property Disputes angle, states whether or not it is applicable in England or Wales or both and contains links to relevant guidance. For general guidance in respect of: • landlord and tenant matters, see Practice Note: Building Safety Act 2022—landlord and tenant issues • the reforms to the regulatory regimes and standards for building and fire safety and construction products that it brings forward and its provisions regarding liability for historic building safety defects, see Practice Note: Building Safety Act 2022—key provisions and issues • Defective Premises Act 1972 limitation period amends and more generally, see Practice Notes: Building Safety Act 2022—key provisions and issues—Developers and product manufacturers—claims and liabilities and Defective Premises Act—work in relation to dwellings • the framework for a new regulatory system applicable to ‘higher-risk buildings’ (HRBs) under BSA 2022, Pt 3 (which enabled the creation of a stringent building control regime that will apply to the design and

This Practice Note summarises what landlord’s certificates are under the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022), and the form, content, deadlines for landlord’s certificates (and former landlord’s certificates) and consequences of failure to comply with the relevant statutory provisions. Landlord’s certificate—when it must be provided and time limits A landlord’s certificate provides a leaseholder with information relating to the landlord’s net worth and the extent to which the landlord was responsible for identified fire safety defects. This enables a leaseholder to identify whether or not the landlord is prevented from recovering the cost of remedying the defect through the service charge by virtue of: • BSA 2022, Schedule 8, paragraph 2 (the para 2 responsibility condition) —ie the landlord was responsible for the defect or associated with the person responsible—see Practice Note: Building Safety Act 2022—landlord and tenant issues — Circumstances where no service charge is payable for remediation; or • BSA 2022, Sch 8, paragraph 3 (the para 3 contribution condition) — ie at the qualifying time (14 February 2022 — see Practice Note: Building

This Checklist summarises the trigger events and timing for service of a landlord’s certificate and former landlord’s certificate under the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) and the consequences of failure to comply with the relevant statutory provisions. For full guidance, see Practice Notes: • Building Safety Act 2022—landlord’s certificate • Building Safety Act 2022—landlord and tenant issues Trigger events and timing • has the current landlord (here as defined in SI 2022/711, reg 1(3) as ‘person who is the landlord under a lease of premises in a relevant building’) set up a system to ensure that a landlord’s certificate is provided in compliance with any of the trigger events below? ◦ is a demand for a remediation service charge going to be made? If so, the landlord’s certificate must be provided at the same time—accordingly, a landlord should ensure they have all information required to complete the landlord’s certificate (see below) before serving the remediation service charge demand in order that it can be served with the demand ◦ has the landlord received notification

The government introduced the Building Safety Bill (the Bill) to Parliament in July 2021, intending to deliver on the recommendations and principles identified in Dame Judith Hackitt’s ‘Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’. The Bill received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022, becoming the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022). BSA 2022 introduces fundamental reforms to the law and regulation of building safety, which seek to ‘secure the safety of people in or about buildings and improve the standard of buildings’. For guidance on the scope of the BSA 2022, and commentary on its key provisions, see Practice Note: Building Safety Act 2022—key provisions and issues. The changes introduced by the BSA 2022 include the creation of statutory rights of action against parties that have supplied cladding and construction products which cause a residential property to become ‘unfit for habitation’. This Practice Note provides guidance on these provisions, which are contained in BSA 2022, ss 147–151. It looks in particular at the conditions which must be satisfied in order

This Practice Note provides guidance as to who can apply for remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, what the orders relate to, who they can be made against, and the application process. The Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) contains provisions intended to protect certain leaseholders of ‘relevant buildings’ in England (section 117) from the costs of rectifying certain historic building safety related defects, and making provision for the recovery of those amounts from persons who are landlords under leases of the building (or any part of it) under sections 116–124 and Schedule 8. The effect of these provisions is that in certain situations, landlords will be unable to reclaim some or all of the costs they incur in remedying fire safety related defects from leaseholders via the service charge. As this may lead to landlords accordingly holding off on remedying fire safety related defects, BSA 2022 also contains provisions whereby certain defined persons are able to apply to the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) in England for an order that:

Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017, Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety identified the need for a fundamental shift in thinking in relation to building safety. In her final report published in May 2018 she emphasised ‘…there is a need for a radical rethink of the whole system and how it works. This is most definitely not just a question of the specification of cladding systems, but of an industry that has not reflected and learned for itself, nor looked to other sectors’. The result of the enquiry into building safety was the much talked about and anticipated Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) which received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. BSA 2022 represents the fundamental shift in the approach to building safety and the regulation of higher-risk buildings (HRBs) in England that Dame Judith Hackitt called for. At the heart of this radical regime was the creation of a new Building Safety Regulator (BSR) which initially