New Law introduced to address issues of Building Fire Safety in high rise buildings

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (Act) has recently come into force in England. The legislation is, amongst other things, intended to tidy up some of the mischief contained within the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) – which was introduced to legislate works programmes to remediate defective cladding etc. and implement a new regulatory framework of building fire safety in relation to high rise buildings.

Those parts of the Act intending to amend the BSA 2022 will come into effect on 24 July 2024.

Key Points in the Act regarding building fire safety

The Act amends Part 5 of the BSA 2022 in connection with the remediation of building defects and the insolvency of persons who have repairing obligations relating to certain kinds of buildings. In particular:

1. A requirement for "relevant steps" to be taken to remediate defects to prevent or reduce the likelihood of fire or collapse of a building, reduce severity of an incident and prevent or reduce harm to persons in or about a building. Some definitions in this provision have also been removed or amended.

2. A requirement to do one or both of the following by a specified time: remedy the defect in the building or take specified relevant steps regarding remediation orders, updated prescribed details regarding the standing of expert reports with orders from the First Tier Tribunal; and, in relation to remediation contribution orders (RCOs) further definitions as to those costs which would fall within the scope of RCOs including the costs of taking relevant steps, costs of obtaining experts reports and costs of temporary accommodation.

3. Further clarity is given by the amendments of definitions regarding recovery of costs under a service charge provision in the case of resident management companies.

4. Section 125 of the BSA 2022 is repealed, removing the power of the court on application of an insolvency practitioner to order a corporate body or partnership associated with an landlord company subject to winding up proceedings, to pay or contribute to the landlord company in respect of remediation costs.

5. Notification requirements are introduced, in connection with the insolvency of "responsible persons" in the case of higher-risk and relevant buildings, with increased duties on insolvency practitioners in relation to notifying relevant authorities such as fire service and council, as well the regulator.

The law surrounding building fire safety in England is complex and evolving. If you are a landlord, developer, insolvency practitioner or leaseholder dealing with these issues, or if you have any concerns about how these changes may affect you or your business, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Real Estate Disputes Team, our Insolvency Team or, your usual Brodies contact.

For more of our industry insights on the impact of the BSA 2022 right across the built environment, please visit our Building and Fire Safety Hub here.