29 Mar Building Safety Bill Amended

Cladding hit flat owners have welcomed changes announced by ministers to help protect them, but insist that ‘the crisis isn’t over’.

The amendments are to the Building Safety Bill, which is currently going through the House of Lords and aims to improve building safety regulations following the Grenfell fire.

The Building Safety Bill’s amendments include the scrapping of the legal requirement for building owners to appoint a building safety manager, as well as the building safety charge used to pay for the managers.

Concerns about these issues have been raised by leaseholders in recent weeks, who welcomed their removal.

Other amendments to the Bill will mean that the protections to prevent leaseholders from being charged for cladding work will be extended to those who own up to three properties.

And leaseholders in lower value properties will not be charged for any remediation work at all.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said: ‘I am taking measures further by providing greater powers to go after those responsible for building safety defects, eliminating costs for leaseholders in lower value homes and increasing support for small landlords.

‘No leaseholder should pay the price for shoddy development and we have listened to their concerns, removing the requirement for a separate building safety charge and scrapping compulsory building safety managers, to help avoid unnecessary costs.

‘There is more to do, but this package builds on the legal protections I set out earlier this year and will help to bring this scandal to an end and make industry pay.’