On the 13th of January 2024 The Building Safety Act 2022 (Commencement No. 6) Regulations 2024 were enacted, bringing into force Part 4 of the Act. These regulations, now in effect, significantly impact owners and managers of existing residential buildings. The Act outlines requirements such as Building Assessment Certificates, assessing and managing safety risks, producing a Safety Case Report, reporting Mandatory Occurrences, and engaging with residents.
In a bid to overhaul and enhance the safety standards within higher risk residential buildings, the Building Safety Act 2022 marked a significant stride towards ensuring the well-being of occupants and addressing the challenges that have plagued the property management industry. The Act is a framework which relies upon secondary legislation which has been, since the initial passage of the Act been “drip fed” to the industry.
The New Regulations
The new Building Safety Act 2022 (Commencement No. 6) Regulations 2024 have now been passed which means that, in the main Part 4 of the Act is now in force. This is of particular concern for those who own and manage existing, occupied residential blocks that fall under the scope of the Act.
The requirements which are now in force relate to:
- The need to apply, when directed by the Regulator for a Building Assessment Certificate, the information required and the duty to display such certificate within your building.
- The need to assess and manage building safety (fire and structural) risks including the need for building safety management systems.
- The need to produce, publish and keep up to date a Safety Case Report and the need to notify the Regulator or any changes or updates.
- The need to report Mandatory Occurrences to the Regulator
- The need to keep information about your higher-risk building, the need to keep, store, maintain and share such information to various parties.
- The need to consult with residents and develop, publish and update a Resident Engagement Strategy, including the provision of information and a complaints procedure to residents.
- The duties on residents and owners
- The duty on the regulator to enforce the Act and its secondary legislation
All of these require secondary legislation to be fully enacted and provide more detailed requirements, some of which have already been passed but only comes into force after a short period, others we are still waiting for.
In addition to the above, Section 111 of the Act has also been brought into force. This gives RMC’s the option to engage a Building Safety Director, again this still requires secondary legislation to be passed to provide the specifics and actual requirements.
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