| answer text |
<p>The Building Safety Act 2022 protects leaseholders in buildings above 11 metres
in height or with at least five storeys from 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 no more than three UK properties
in total. The protections automatically transfer to future buyers if a lease is sold.</p><p>Those
responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. That
is why, where the building is owned by the developer of the building, or the building
owner is linked to the developer, the no costs related to historical defects can be
passed to any leaseholders; including commercial leaseholders. If the building owner
is not linked to the developer, commercial leaseholders can be charged for their full
share of remediation works, as per the terms of their lease.</p><p>Qualifying leaseholders
will be fully protected in law from cladding costs. In addition, 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 contributions from leaseholders. Landlords will be required to provide
detailed evidence to leaseholders that they are entitled to pass on costs. The Government
is clear that landlords who attempt to continue charging leaseholders once the caps
have been met will be breaking the law and we will not hesitate to use all possible
levers to hold rogue actors to account.</p><p>The Government has agreed with 45 residential
property developers that they will fix life-critical fire safety defects, including
cladding, in all buildings above 11 metres that they had a role in developing or refurbishing
in the past 30 years. Where a responsible developer cannot be identified, grant funding
from either the Building Safety Fund or the new 11-18 metre remediation fund will
cover the costs of fixing unsafe cladding.</p>
|
|
