Building Safety Regulator publishes Enforcement Policy Statement

The Building Safety Regulator's enforcement policy statement details how it will enforce the building safety regime.

The policy statement sets out the BSR's approach to enforcement and action to enforce the law when non-compliance, hazard or serious risk during the building or alteration and management of higher-risk buildings have been identified.

When acting as a Building Control authority for higher-risk buildings, the BSR can serve the following enforcement notices:

• a compliance notice when a duty holder contravenes or is likely to contravene a provision of building regulations
• a stop notice can be served when building work contravenes a provision of building regulations and the use of the building would present a risk of serious harm to people in or around the buildings, or where work is taking place without building control approval, or a compliance notice has been contravened
• a notice requiring alteration or removal of offending work where building work contravenes a provision of building regulations

When regulating occupied higher-risk buildings, the BSR can:

• serve a compliance notice on an accountable person when it appears to the regulator that there is a contravention that requires action to be taken within a certain time period - if the contravention places people in imminent danger, the regulator can specify that the contravention notice is an urgent action notice

Failure to comply with any of these enforcement notices is a criminal offence and can result in prosecution. The BSR can also apply to a tribunal to appoint a special measures manager for an occupied higher-risk building. This action will be considered where the accountable person is repeatedly failing to manage building safety risk, is taking no action to comply with duties, and residents are put at risk of serious harm. This action can be taken in addition to prosecution.

Under the Building Safety Act 2022, the BSR is also responsible for regulating the building control profession. The BSR can:

• make disciplinary orders
• vary, suspend or cancel registration for RBCAs and RBIs; and/or
• impose financial penalties on RBCAs and RBIs
• prosecute criminal offences relating to registration and the OSRs
• issue an improvement notice to a LA or RBCA if it appears they have contravened the OSR
• issue a serious contravention notice to a LA or RBCA if it appears that either the OSRs have been contravened and, as a result, the safety of persons in or about building has been, or may have been, put at risk; or they have been given an improvement notice and failed to remedy the contravention(s) contained within that notice
• recommend to the Secretary of State a transfer of a LA’s building control functions to another LA or the Secretary of State

The Enforcement Policy Statement can be found in full here

This article appears on the CIAT news and blog site as "BSR publishes Enforcement Policy Statement" dated December 8, 2023.

--CIAT

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