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<p>The landmark Building Safety Act 2022 delivers robust and far-reaching protections
for leaseholders in buildings above 11 metres in height or with at least five storeys
from the costs associated with historical building safety defects. A leaseholder qualifies
for the protections if, on 14 February 2022, the property was their principal home,
or if they owned up to three UK properties in total.</p><p>The Act protects qualifying
leaseholders from all costs related to the remediation of unsafe cladding and the
costs for remediation of non-cladding defects and interim measures like waking watches
are subject to a firm cap. Once the leaseholder caps have been reached, landlords
will be unable to demand further non-cladding costs from leaseholders. Qualifying
leaseholders will be protected from costs associated with both shoddy workmanship
and faulty design: the protections safeguard against costs associated with any defect
that has arisen in the past 30 years because of anything done or not done, or anything
used or not used in connection with works to the building that also causes a building
safety risk. This includes defects associated with the provision of professional services,
for example those of an architect.</p><p>The Act ensures that corporate structures
cannot be used to evade liability for building safety defects. Freeholders with links
to the building’s original developer, such as where the freeholder is a subsidiary
of the developer, will need to meet remediation costs for their buildings in full.
As the Act looks at the situation on 14 February 2022, any future buyer of the freehold
will assume the same liabilities of the previous freeholder; as such, freeholders
will not be able to simply sell off their buildings to evade liability. The Act also
grants a power to the High Court allowing them to extend specific liabilities for
one company to associated companies, removing the protection afforded to developers
and contractors by special purpose vehicles.</p><p>All development, whether allowed
through a permitted development right or an application for planning permission, must
meet building regulations including fire and other building safety requirements. The
Government has no plans at present to review the permitted development rights for
building upwards.</p>
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