The government has introduced the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill, moving from the policy commitments in its Remediation Acceleration Plan to a proposed statutory framework for identifying and fixing residential buildings with unsafe cladding.
Introduced on 14 October 2026, the bill is intended to create greater certainty about which buildings require remediation and to what standard, strengthen the powers available to regulators, improve routes to remediation where those responsible do not act, and widen potential redress against manufacturers of unsafe construction products.
The bill is at an early stage and may change as it passes through parliament. However, building owners, landlords, developers, registered providers, local authorities, and others involved with affected buildings should begin considering how the proposed duties and enforcement regime may apply to them.
The proposed legal duty would apply to multi-occupied residential buildings in England that are over 11 metres in height or have at least five storeys and were completed before 28 June 2022. It would cover private and social sector buildings, including enfranchised and commonhold buildings.
The social housing sector remains a particular area of focus for government, with additional funding and support measures aimed at accelerating remediation. Landlords and housing providers should therefore expect increasing scrutiny of remediation progress and greater pressure to demonstrate that affected buildings have been identified, assessed and, where necessary, incorporated into a clear remediation strategy.
Buildings covered by the developer remediation contract would be excluded because equivalent assessment and remediation obligations already apply under that contract.
The duties would fall on the party with the relevant repairing obligation, referred to as the ‘responsible entity’. Depending on the ownership and management structure, this could include a freeholder, a head lessee or sub-lessee, a right to manage company or a resident management company.
The bill would introduce a structured process for assessing external walls and progressing the work identified, as necessary.
Assessment - responsible entities would be required to assess fire safety risks within the statutory period. Where recommended by the building’s fire risk assessment, this would involve commissioning a fire risk assessment of external walls.
Assessment standard – secondary legislation regulations are expected to require fire risk assessment of external walls to follow the PAS 9980 methodology, providing a consistent basis for assessing external wall fire risk.
Audit - all fire risk assessment of external walls recommending mitigation or remediation would be submitted to Homes England for audit. Homes England would also be able to audit a proportion of assessments concluding that no work is required.
Mitigation and remediation - responsible entities would have to implement recommended interim measures and permanently remediate unsafe cladding as soon as reasonably practicable.
Existing assessments carried out between 16 May 2022 and the new regime coming into force would not need to be repeated if they complied with the requirements in force when they were undertaken. This includes assessments for buildings within government remediation schemes.
Where fire risk assessment of external walls recommends work, the responsible entity would have to prepare a ‘remediation compliance plan’ within 15 months of the bill receiving Royal Assent. The plan would set out the steps proposed to implement the fire risk assessment of external walls recommendations and the timetable for doing so.
For corporate responsible entities, the plan would also identify the director responsible for compliance, beneficial owners, and information about the entity’s portfolio and wider corporate group. The plan would need to be published online and shared proactively with residents and leaseholders. The cost of producing it could not be passed to qualifying leaseholders.
Failure to publish a plan by the statutory deadline could lead to substantial financial penalties accruing until it is produced.
Local authorities, fire and rescue authorities and the building safety regulator would be responsible for enforcing the new duties. The regime would be supported by strengthened information-gathering and interview powers, duties to co-operate and powers for the secretary of state to issue directions.
A responsible entity that deliberately fails to mitigate or take steps to remediate buildings at 11 metres plus as soon as reasonably practicable, will be liable for criminal prosecution. A defence of ‘reasonable excuse’ will be introduced to make sure those that are acting proactively are not penalised unfairly by contractor shortages or supply chain issues that are beyond their control. On conviction, an individual could receive up to two years’ imprisonment. As an alternative to prosecution, regulators could impose a financial penalty of up to £500,000.
Where a company’s breach results from a director’s consent, connivance or neglect, the director could also be prosecuted. The bill also proposes group accountability provisions allowing certain penalties to be served on the responsible entity and controlling group companies in the most serious cases.
The bill would create a separate offence where a person unreasonably obstructs someone who is lawfully assessing or remediating a building with serious external wall fire safety risks. This could include unjustifiably refusing or delaying access, permissions, or the progress of works. A reasonable excuse defence would protect genuine disputes or concerns raised in good faith.
An individual found to have obstructed assessment, or remediation could face a fine of up to £40,000. A corporate offender could face a penalty calculated by reference to worldwide revenue.
The bill would establish a last-resort remediation backstop where the duty-holder has failed to comply with a notice, order, or the legal duty to carry out the necessary remediation works. If there is no realistic path to remediation, the regulator can refer the case to a local authority or Homes England.
Notice will then be served on the duty-holder allowing three months to provide information about remediation steps already take and provide representations as to why the backstop should not be applied. If the backstop is applied, a remediation management order will be required from the first-tier tribunal.
If granted, the remediation management order enables the remediation authority to take control of the remediation and seek recovery of the costs from existing government remediation schemes and the duty-holder.
Secondary legislation will be issued six months after Royal Assent which will provide guidance on the remediation management order process and powers.
A new register would cover medium-rise residential buildings in England with two or more dwellings, which are between 11 and 18 metres in height or have at least five storeys but fewer than seven. The register is intended to capture those buildings that have potentially dangerous cladding, but which were not included in the ‘higher-risk’ building definition contained in the Building Safety Act 2022.
Those responsible for these buildings would also be required to assess them for fire safety risks within 12 months of the legislation coming into force.
The bill would also improve access to information about legal and beneficial ownership. This is intended to help regulators identify the parties responsible for assessment and remediation where ownership arrangements are complex or unclear.
The bill would amend section 149 of the Building Safety Act 2022 to make it easier to bring claims against manufacturers that supplied unsafe construction products. It would also widen the range of parties able to bring claims, including developers.
Developers, contractors, consultants, and manufacturers should therefore preserve historic project records and review the design, specification, procurement, and supply chains for external wall systems. Potential claims are likely to depend heavily on technical evidence and documents created during the original project.
Government guidance states that funding is available for all work required by the proposed legal duty to remediate, so leaseholders should not pay towards remediation undertaken under that duty. Responsible entities that are freeholders would also be unable to pass financial penalties to leaseholders, and the cost of preparing a remediation compliance plan could not be passed to qualifying leaseholders.
The wider allocation and recovery of costs will nevertheless remain fact specific. Existing Building Safety Act 2022 protections and remedies, including remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, will continue to be relevant alongside contractual claims and claims involving construction products.
Although the bill is at an early stage, affected organisations should consider taking the following practical steps:
Review residential portfolios to identify buildings over 11 metres or with at least five storeys, and record whether they are already within a government or developer-led remediation scheme.
Confirm who holds the relevant repairing obligations and whether ownership or management structures and map any complex ownership, management, beneficial ownership or group arrangements.
Audit existing fire risk assessments and fire risk assessment of external walls, including when they were carried out, the methodology used and any recommendations that remain outstanding.
Check whether remediation plans, funding arrangements and delivery programmes are sufficiently clear, evidenced, and capable of withstanding regulatory scrutiny.
Preserve construction, design, product, warranty, and insurance records and consider whether potential recovery claims require investigation.
Monitor the bill’s parliamentary progress and the regulations and statutory guidance that will define the detailed compliance requirements.
The current guidance states that the duties to assess, mitigate and remediate are intended to come into force two months after Royal Assent. The assessment deadline would be 12 months after Royal Assent, and remediation compliance plans would be due 15 months after Royal Assent. Some other measures will require secondary legislation.
Our construction, property litigation and real estate teams advise developers, landlords, registered providers, local authorities and other stakeholders on unsafe cladding and building safety remediation. This includes identifying affected buildings, reviewing project and ownership documentation, assessing responsibility and potential recovery claims, advising on funding and Building Safety Act remedies, and preparing and negotiating remediation contracts.
We can also help organisations review their existing assessments, remediation strategy, and corporate arrangements in anticipation of the proposed duties and monitor the Bill as it progresses through Parliament.
We also advise on Building Safety Act remedies, including remediation orders and remediation contribution orders, together with the legal aspects of procurement and delivery of remediation projects. As regulatory expectations continue to increase, understanding both your obligations and your recovery options will be critical.
Status note: This article reflects the Bill as introduced in the House of Commons on 14 October 2026. The provisions may change during the parliamentary process. |
