Fire safety briefing note: next steps

On 27th June 2022 Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, published a letter to building owners and managing agents advising that the leaseholder protection provisions set out in the Building Safety Act 2022 would come into effect from 28th June, protecting Qualifying Leaseholders from any financial costs associated with life-critical building-safety defects. He also issued guidance for leaseholders on the implications of the Act which can be viewed here.

The guidance states that any leaseholder should not pay any outstanding or current invoice relating to historical cladding or non-cladding building safety costs that were caused during the construction or refurbishment of the building. We are delighted that the Government has put in place measures for leaseholders to protect them from unaffordable costs relating to remediation of cladding and other fire safety defects. This is something which we have been advocating since the start of the Government announcements requiring remediation.

As discussed in this briefing note, there are many unanswered questions which require further clarification. We hope that Government will provide this clarification at the earliest opportunity in order that we have a clear way forward. 

To read the full briefing note please click here.