Under the Waterfall model set out in the Building Safety Act 2022, developers are the first to pay for the costs of remediating defective buildings, rather than the leaseholders that have previously been liable for costs<\/p>
During the previous Secretary of State\u2019s appearance before the Levelling up and Housing Committee on 13 June 2022, he announced that a new Recovery Strategy Unit has been established to help pursue and expose developers who have failed to pay for defects that they have created.
The unit will identify and pursue these individuals and firms using all appropriate means, including through the courts, to ensure that developers do the right thing and take responsibility for defects they created.<\/p>"}
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, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-07-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "date" : {"_value" : "2022-07-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what measures his Department will take to locate polluters under the first tier of the waterfall model of liability contained in the Building Safety Act 2022 before placing liability on other parties.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4474", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Hollinrake"}
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, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Kevin Hollinrake"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1488719", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1488719/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Building Safety Act puts in place legal protections for leaseholders from historical building safety costs. The Act legally protects qualifying leaseholders (those living in their own home or with no more than three UK properties in total) from all costs relating to the remediation of unsafe cladding and contains robust and far-reaching protections from non-cladding costs, including those relating to interim measures such as waking watches. Where those directly responsible (for example, developers) cannot be held to account, building owners and landlords, rather than leaseholders, will now be the first port of call to pay for historical safety defects.<\/p>
The Building Safety Act spreads the costs of fixing historical building safety defects as fairly and equitably as possible across the system. If building owners and landlords on 14 February were, or were related to the developer of the building, they are liable for the full cost of remediating all building safety defects, whether cladding or otherwise, to the benefit of all leaseholders. Qualifying leaseholders will be protected from all costs for remediation works if the building owners and landlord have a net worth of more than £2 million per in-scope building.<\/p>
It is not our default expectation that building owners and landlords, including pension funds, will have to fund remediation works from their own resources: we want them to pursue those responsible for defective work, including associated companies of developers and manufacturers. That is why y there is now a toolkit of measures available under the Building Safety Act 2022 to enable that to happen.<\/p>
We have retrospectively extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from 6 to 30 years; we have extended the reach of civil liability to associated companies of developers, including trusts, to ensure that some of the largest businesses in the sector who have used shell companies and other complex corporate structures to be pursed for contributions; and we have created a cause of action which will allow manufacturers of construction products to be pursued where defective or mis-sold products have been used in buildings.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4024", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Marcus Jones"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Nuneaton"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Marcus Jones"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-07-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-07-21T15:51:52.337Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "211"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Levelling Up, Housing and Communities"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Levelling Up, Housing and Communities"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-07-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Buildings: Safety"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment on the financial impact on UK pension funds of the Building Safety Act 2022.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4474", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Hollinrake"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Thirsk and Malton"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Kevin Hollinrake"} ], "uin" : "36018"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1488720", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1488720/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
On 13 July we published the draft of a contract with developers. The draft contract, once finalised and executed, will turn the commitments made in the pledge into a legally binding agreement.<\/p>
Publication marks the start of a four-week period of engagement, during which we will refine the contract as necessary. As well as discussing the contract with developers during this period, we will engage other interested parties including representatives of building owners, managing agents, residents, leaseholders, lenders and insurers.<\/p>
We plan to have the terms of the contract finalised by 10 August. We expect developers to have signed the contract by the end of September.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4024", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr Marcus Jones"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Nuneaton"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Marcus Jones"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-07-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-07-21T15:50:04.35Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "211"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Levelling Up, Housing and Communities"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Levelling Up, Housing and Communities"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-07-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Housing: Insulation"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will consult (a) building owners, (b) managing agents and (c) residents of buildings on the delivery of the commitments pledged by developers for buildings those developers no longer own or control.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4474", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Kevin Hollinrake"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Thirsk and Malton"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Kevin Hollinrake"} ], "uin" : "36019"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1488764", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1488764/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
On 1 June 2022 the Government published a response to a consultation following the review of the ban of combustible materials in and on the external walls of buildings. The consultation proposed a temporary 18-month relaxation of the ban as it relates to cavity trays. This followed from issues highlighted to us on the excessive cost, supply, installation and durability of product on the market at the time.<\/p>
We consider it is appropriate, on balance, to allow for a short-term exemption for combustible cavity trays as the risk they pose remains low while providing temporary flexibility.<\/p>