Building Safety Act Compliance: What Owners and Managers Need to Know

Four years after the Building Safety Act 2022 received Royal Assent, the question we are still asked most often by freeholders and resident boards is the simplest one: does any of this apply to my building? The honest answer is that some of it applies to every block in England, and a much heavier set of duties applies to a small minority.

This is the current position as at September 2026, including the changes the Building Safety Regulator announced in July.

First, establish which regime your building sits in

A higher-risk building in England is one that is at least 18 metres in height or has at least seven storeys, and contains at least two residential units. If your building meets that test, the full occupation regime under Part 4 of the Act applies.

A relevant building for the purpose of the leaseholder cost protections is different and considerably wider: a self-contained building containing at least two dwellings that is at least 11 metres high or has at least five storeys.

Every other block still sits under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022. Nothing is exempt; the obligations simply scale.

Who is accountable, and who is principally accountable

For a higher-risk building, an accountable person is whoever holds a repairing obligation for the common parts. There can be more than one. The principal accountable person is the one responsible for the structure and external walls.

This catches people out in two directions. A resident management company that holds the repairing covenant is an accountable person, regardless of who owns the freehold — volunteer status makes no difference to the duty. And where a freeholder and an RMC both hold obligations, both are accountable persons and the allocation between them needs to be documented rather than assumed.

What the Regulator changed in July 2026

The building assessment certificate process, which opened in April 2024, has proved slow and disproportionately heavy for small buildings. In July 2026 the Building Safety Regulator announced a more targeted approach:

New building assessment certificate applications have been suspended while the process is redesigned, with the Regulator concentrating on applications already in the queue. Simplified assessment criteria and clearer technical guidance are being produced with the professional bodies, and extended timelines are being offered to smaller, volunteer-run resident management companies preparing their evidence. Pre-application support is being made available to the 2,000-plus resident-managed higher-risk buildings, with the first updated resources due from September 2026.

The Regulator was explicit that this changes the process, not the duties. Fire and structural safety obligations, mandatory occurrence reporting and resident engagement all continue to apply in full.

The duties that have not moved

For a higher-risk building, the principal accountable person must have registered the building with the Regulator and supplied key building information. A safety case report must be prepared, kept current and produced on request — it is the document that demonstrates the building's fire and structural risks are identified and controlled, not a form.

A mandatory occurrence reporting system must be in place so that safety occurrences reach the Regulator. A residents' engagement strategy must be prepared and followed, and residents have a route to raise building safety concerns and escalate them. The golden thread of building information must be held digitally, current, and accessible.

Duties that apply to ordinary blocks

Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, buildings over 11 metres require quarterly checks of fire doors in the common parts and annual best-endeavours checks of flat entrance doors. Buildings over 18 metres additionally require a secure information box, building floor plans and external wall information provided to the fire and rescue service, wayfinding signage, and monthly checks of firefighting lifts and equipment. Every building containing two or more domestic premises must give residents fire safety instructions and information on fire door obligations.

Separately, since the Act amended the Fire Safety Order, the responsible person must record the fire risk assessment in full and record the identity of the competent person who carried it out, and the assessment must consider external walls and flat entrance doors. Where an external wall appraisal is needed, PAS 9980 is the recognised methodology.

Who pays — and the answer is often not the leaseholder

Schedule 8 of the Act removes categories of remediation cost from the service charge for qualifying leases in relevant buildings.

Where it applies, the removal or replacement of unsafe cladding cannot be charged to qualifying leaseholders at all. Nor can remediation of a defect for which the landlord or an associated person is responsible, nor the legal and professional costs of establishing that liability. Where the landlord group's net worth exceeds £2 million per relevant building, no remediation cost passes through. For non-cladding remediation that does remain recoverable, contributions are capped annually at one-tenth of a permitted maximum ranging from £10,000 to £100,000 depending on property value and location.

A qualifying lease is broadly a long lease of a single dwelling granted before 14 February 2022, where the flat was the leaseholder's only or principal home or they owned no more than three UK dwellings. Any budget line for remediation should be tested against Schedule 8 before it is demanded — see our guide to building a service charge budget.

What is arriving next

The Building Safety Levy commences on 1 October 2026 and applies to most new residential development of ten or more dwellings. It falls on developers, not on existing blocks.

The second staircase requirement means that from 30 September 2026, building control approval for new residential buildings at or above 18 metres requires two escape stairs, subject to transitional provisions for schemes already sufficiently progressed.

The Building Safety Regulator is moving out of the Health and Safety Executive to become an independent body under the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, with the enabling regulations taking effect from January 2026. A Remediation Bill has been promised but has no confirmed timetable.

Practical next steps for a board

Measure the building properly and record the storey count and height, because the whole analysis turns on it. Confirm in writing who the accountable persons are and what each is accountable for. Check the registration status if the building is higher-risk. Read the current fire risk assessment and check that its actions are funded in the budget rather than merely listed. And where remediation is in prospect, establish the Schedule 8 position before any money is demanded.

How Temphis helps

We take on ten to fifteen properties a year, which lets us do this building by building rather than by template. What is included is set out under block management, our fees are published at standard fees, and transferring block manager explains how a handover works if your current arrangement is not producing answers. Leaseholders wanting to take control can start with right to manage.

To talk through where your building sits, get in touch.