Building Safety Fund

On 28 July 2022, Greg Clark MP announced that more leaseholders in high-rise homes would be spared bills for building safety as the £4.5 billion Building Safety Fund opened for new applications.

Buildings over 18 metres with cladding issues are eligible to apply for the fund, which has allocated over £1.3 billion towards making homes safe since its launch in 2020. Qualifying leaseholders are protected from paying the majority of costs to fix fire safety defects.

An online Leaseholder Protections Checker helps leaseholders understand if they qualify for financial protections under the Building Safety Act..

Under the Building Safety Act, building owners and landlords are now responsible for making buildings safe. It is illegal for the costs of cladding repairs and those beyond the leaseholder caps for non-cladding defects to be passed on to qualifying leaseholders.

Any building owner that invoices qualifying leaseholders or continues to seek payment of outstanding bills for work to fix historical building safety defects could now face criminal action, unless they can prove they are legally entitled to recover these costs.

Those that the protections apply to need to complete and submit a leaseholder Deed of Certificate to their building owner to confirm whether they have anything to pay. Further guidance to support leaseholders with demonstrating their eligibility has also been published online.

Where there are no clear plans in place to fix buildings over 18 metres with cladding related issues, building owners and landlords can check their eligibility for the Building Safety Fund. For buildings 11-18 metres in height where the original developer or building owner cannot be identified or held responsible, the government is also launching a new scheme to cover the costs of remediating unsafe cladding.

Leaseholders with concerns about how repairs will be made and funded are advised to speak to their building owner, who is legally required to provide regular updates on the progress of fire safety works.

Secretary of State for Levelling Up Greg Clark said: “We must make homes safe. The relaunch of the Building Safety Fund today will help achieve this, but we must also ensure those in industry who acted irresponsibly pay their fair share to put things right. The Building Safety Act makes clear building owners’ liabilities and gives us powers to pursue those that continue to flout the rules. It has also introduced far-reaching legal protections to relieve many leaseholders from the financial burden of fixing their homes. With these now fully up and running, I urge any homeowners who may qualify to see if they are eligible using our online Leaseholder Protections Checker as soon as possible.”