6 Comment
COMMENT
Who pays for building safety?
Chris Hemmings from the London offi ce of estate agent Carter Jonas gets down to brass tacks on the incoming Building Safety Levy, and its impact on housing providers. He asks whether it runs the risk of further slowing the delivery of much-needed new homes.
T
he Building Safety Levy (BSL), due to come into eff ect on 1 October next year, is yet another cost that developers are having to bear in delivering new housing stock across England.
Following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017, the Building Safety
Act 2022 introduced powers to impose a levy on new residential buildings requiring certain Building Control approvals in England, to raise revenue to be spent on building safety. T e Act also introduced a Building Safety Regulator to oversee building work and enforce safety standards, particularly for higher risk buildings. As a result of the Act, the Government published new guidelines in March 2024 on the requirement for a second staircase in all new residential buildings over 18 metres, which is mandatory from 30 September 2026 within changes to Approved Document B of the Building Regulations 2010. T e raſt of changes has already seen developers amend schemes at planning
stage to incorporate the second staircase and it has been well documented that the volume of applications requiring Building Safety Regulator sign off has created a backlog which has further delayed planning permissions from being granted (Gateway 1) and starts on site (Gateway 2). T e BSL is formulated and administered in a very similar way to Community
Infrastructure Levy (CIL), being applicable to the gross internal area of major residential schemes with relief for aff ordable housing. Major schemes are defi ned as those of 10 or more new residential units and 30 or more new bedspaces in relation to student accommodation. Other uses such as care homes, hotels and other forms of accommodation are exempt from the levy. T e levy will be collected on behalf of the Government by local authorities and the income raised will contribute to fi xing building defects across England, such as cladding materials on apartment buildings.
Housing Management & Maintenance August/September 2025
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