Building Safety: a trio of updates

Whats new?

October is shaping up to be a busy time for new legislative measures, draft bills and consultations - not least in the building safety context.

This month has seen: 

1. A new building safety levy coming into force.
2. Publication of a new cladding and remediation bill.
3. The launch of a new consultation on extending requirements to fix housing hazards.

The building safety levy

The Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025 came into force 1 October 2026. The regulations provide for a levy to be paid on certain building control applications for residential developments before completion of the building work or occupation of the building (whichever is earlier). Certain exemptions and nuances apply, however, generally speaking:

• The levy is chargeable where there is creation of new residential floorspace where the building work constitutes major residential development. This means a levy charge arises where at least 10 new dwellings, or in the context of PBSA, 30 new bedspaces, are created. The levy is payable to the Collecting Authority for the area in which the building/proposed building to which the building control application relates is situated or is to be situated.
• The “named client” in the building control application is liable to pay the levy - for many developments this will be the developer. A named client has extensive obligations to provide information to the relevant building control authority. If the levy is chargeable, the information comprises “building safety levy information” and “levy charging information”. Information sharing requirements (of a lesser degree) are also engaged in relation to certain building control applications even where the levy is not payable. Variations may also trigger additional information provision requirements.
• The Collecting Authority has five weeks from the “receipt date,” (when the information has been received) to determine the amount of the levy. Levy information spot checks can be carried out by the Collecting Authority to check the accuracy of the levy information that has been provided. When the amount has been determined the Collecting Authority will issue a levy determination notice to the named client. This is either a “levy liability notice” or a “notice of no charge”. The levy becomes payable when a levy liability notice is given. Within two weeks of receiving full payment of the levy the Collecting Authority will issue a levy payment certificate to the named client.
• The primary penalty for non-compliance is the inability to obtain a completion certificate or final certificate for the building work. This effectively prevents legal occupation or use of the building, which can have significant commercial and operational consequences for developers and owners.

The requirement to pay the levy may affect the financial feasibility of projects, posing challenges not only for developers but also for the Government, which has committed to significantly increasing housing construction.

What is the new cladding and remediation bill?

The Government published The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill on 14 October 2026. It seeks to deliver on matters previously outlined in the Remediation Acceleration Plan.

The Bill includes the following provisions (although at 120 pages long, a thorough review will be necessary to identify all of the relevant detail):

• New registration duty: the Secretary of State will have power to create a register of occupied “medium-rise buildings” (residential buildings in England with two or more dwellings, that are between 11m and 18m tall, or which have at least five storeys but fewer than seven). Local authorities will have powers to require disclosure of building ownership information for registered buildings.
• New assessment duty: those responsible for buildings 11m -18m will need to assess them for fire-safety risks (within 12 months of the Bill coming into force) unless a building was assessed between 16 May 2022 and the Bill coming into force.
• FRAEWs: a consistent approach for FRAEWs, including when an assessment must be carried out, will be established. Assessments that recommend mitigation or remediation will need to be submitted to Homes England for audit by an assessment deadline.
• Remediation Compliance Plans: where an FRAEW recommends remedial work, responsible entities will be required to produce a Remediation Compliance Plan within 15 months of the Bill being passed. The plan must set out the timetable for the works and details of the director responsible for ensuring compliance, details of any beneficial owners and information about the responsible entity's portfolio and wider corporate group. The plan must be shared with residents and leaseholders and the costs of preparing it cannot be passed on to qualifying leaseholders.
• New remediation duty: parties with relevant repairing obligations will be required to remediate residential buildings over 11m high, in line with recommendations in FRAEWs as soon as reasonably practicable. Failure to comply (without reasonable excuse) will be an offence with potential financial and custodial sanctions. The Bill addresses circumstances where the building ownership is unclear, absent or negligent.
• Remediation Management Orders: a last-resort backstop mechanism will allow a public authority to carry out remediation work where there is no realistic path to remediation by the current duty-holder. Costs will be recoverable from the duty-holder.
• Strengthened sanctions: financial penalties up to £500,000 for non-compliance with a Remediation Order may be levied and increased monitoring will require the submission of documentation to evidence compliance with such orders. The Bill confirms that no limitation period applies to Remediation Orders, Remediation Contribution Orders and Building Liability Orders.

What is the new consultation on housing hazards?

Under current regulations, which partially implement Awaab’s Law, social landlords are compelled to investigate and rectify dangerous damp and mould within specified time limits and address all emergency hazards within 24 hours. If draft regulations are introduced as anticipated, “phase 2” of Awaab’s Law will take effect from 30 November 2026 and will broaden the requirements to a wider category of hazards. The Government has now launched a consultation seeking views on proposals to extend Awaab's Law to private rented tenancies and to accommodation occupied under licence.

The consultation includes questions about:

• The scope of the law (e.g. whether all hazards except overcrowding should be covered, whether hazards resulting from tenant breach should be excluded).
• How serious a hazard should be to engage the regulations (e.g. a significant hazard or an emergency hazard).
• How severity of hazards should be assessed and any challenges to such basis of assessment (e.g. management of sensitive data, tenant reluctance to disclose information).
• The approach that should be taken in respect of hazards that are the responsibility of the freeholder rather than the leasehold landlord.
• The timescale within which investigations should be carried out.

Views are invited on how best to apply Awaab’s Law to privately rented homes “in a way that is fair, proportionate and effective for both tenants and landlords.” Stakeholders and interested parties who wish to express their views have until 18 December 2026 to submit their response to the consultation.

This article is a high-level summary based on draft regulations and consultation documentation and does not constitute legal advice. Please get in touch with your usual Macfarlanes contact if you would like to discuss these topics or to obtain more details.