Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to announce the measures his Department will take to locate polluters under the first tier of the waterfall model of liability set out in the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
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
During the previous Secretary of State’s 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.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to publish the Grant Funding Agreements for the Building Safety Fund that are compatible with the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Grant Funding Agreement will be published shortly.
The department continues to make funding available via the Building Safety Fund and other existing funding programmes for buildings currently in scope, such as Funds for the remediation of ACM cladding. Applicants within the Building Safety Fund must continue to progress remediation works swiftly.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to fund remediation in the event that funds for remediation of a particular building are not found once the waterfall model for assigning costs is exhausted.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government is clear that those responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. The Building Safety Act 2022 brings forward robust and far-reaching legal protections for leaseholders from historical building safety costs. The leaseholder protection provisions eradicate the idea that the first port of call to pay to fix historical safety defects should be leaseholders. Where those directly responsible (e.g. developers) cannot be held to account, building owners and landlords are now the first port of call to pay for historical safety defects, not leaseholders.
The Act makes it clear who is liable to pay for the remediation of historical building safety defects. The Act sets out in law where the liability sits, and developers, building owners and landlords must meet their obligations. Besides the leaseholder protection measures, there is already a plan for the remediation of unsafe cladding - developers will fix their own buildings, and funding will continue to be available via the Building Safety Fund, as well as a new scheme for buildings between 11-18 metres.
Where it is not possible to identify those directly responsible for historical building safety defects, the protections spread the costs of decades of malpractice equitably across the system. Even where costs are shared with leaseholders up to the maximum capped account, building owner and landlords are liable for a share of the remainder, in accordance with the regulations on apportionment. The Act also contains enforcement powers for those circumstances where landlords and building owners do not comply with the leaseholder protection measures.
We want building owners and landlords to be able to pursue those responsible for defective work and recover costs to fund remediation works. That is why the Building Safety Act includes an ambitious toolkit of measures to allow those responsible for defective work to be pursued. The Act has retrospectively extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from 6 to 30 years. The Act extends 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 can be pursed for contributions. The Act has also 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.
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act came into force on 28 June 2022. On 28 June, the Government published a guide to building safety costs in England, which gave advice on Frequently Asked Questions, to explain these legal changes. The explanatory notes have been updated following Royal Assent and will be published shortly. The government also intends to publish more detailed guidance on how the leasehold protections work in practice, now that the accompanying secondary legislation has come into force.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has plans to enable freeholders to pursue those responsible for defects through the legal recovery mechanisms set out in the Building Safety Act 2022 in order to be able to fund remediation works.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government is clear that those responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. The Building Safety Act 2022 brings forward robust and far-reaching legal protections for leaseholders from historical building safety costs. The leaseholder protection provisions eradicate the idea that the first port of call to pay to fix historical safety defects should be leaseholders. Where those directly responsible (e.g. developers) cannot be held to account, building owners and landlords are now the first port of call to pay for historical safety defects, not leaseholders.
The Act makes it clear who is liable to pay for the remediation of historical building safety defects. The Act sets out in law where the liability sits, and developers, building owners and landlords must meet their obligations. Besides the leaseholder protection measures, there is already a plan for the remediation of unsafe cladding - developers will fix their own buildings, and funding will continue to be available via the Building Safety Fund, as well as a new scheme for buildings between 11-18 metres.
Where it is not possible to identify those directly responsible for historical building safety defects, the protections spread the costs of decades of malpractice equitably across the system. Even where costs are shared with leaseholders up to the maximum capped account, building owner and landlords are liable for a share of the remainder, in accordance with the regulations on apportionment. The Act also contains enforcement powers for those circumstances where landlords and building owners do not comply with the leaseholder protection measures.
We want building owners and landlords to be able to pursue those responsible for defective work and recover costs to fund remediation works. That is why the Building Safety Act includes an ambitious toolkit of measures to allow those responsible for defective work to be pursued. The Act has retrospectively extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from 6 to 30 years. The Act extends 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 can be pursed for contributions. The Act has also 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.
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act came into force on 28 June 2022. On 28 June, the Government published a guide to building safety costs in England, which gave advice on Frequently Asked Questions, to explain these legal changes. The explanatory notes have been updated following Royal Assent and will be published shortly. The government also intends to publish more detailed guidance on how the leasehold protections work in practice, now that the accompanying secondary legislation has come into force.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on remediation works of building owners not having the means to fund that work.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government is clear that those responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. The Building Safety Act 2022 brings forward robust and far-reaching legal protections for leaseholders from historical building safety costs. The leaseholder protection provisions eradicate the idea that the first port of call to pay to fix historical safety defects should be leaseholders. Where those directly responsible (e.g. developers) cannot be held to account, building owners and landlords are now the first port of call to pay for historical safety defects, not leaseholders.
The Act makes it clear who is liable to pay for the remediation of historical building safety defects. The Act sets out in law where the liability sits, and developers, building owners and landlords must meet their obligations. Besides the leaseholder protection measures, there is already a plan for the remediation of unsafe cladding - developers will fix their own buildings, and funding will continue to be available via the Building Safety Fund, as well as a new scheme for buildings between 11-18 metres.
Where it is not possible to identify those directly responsible for historical building safety defects, the protections spread the costs of decades of malpractice equitably across the system. Even where costs are shared with leaseholders up to the maximum capped account, building owner and landlords are liable for a share of the remainder, in accordance with the regulations on apportionment. The Act also contains enforcement powers for those circumstances where landlords and building owners do not comply with the leaseholder protection measures.
We want building owners and landlords to be able to pursue those responsible for defective work and recover costs to fund remediation works. That is why the Building Safety Act includes an ambitious toolkit of measures to allow those responsible for defective work to be pursued. The Act has retrospectively extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from 6 to 30 years. The Act extends 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 can be pursed for contributions. The Act has also 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.
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act came into force on 28 June 2022. On 28 June, the Government published a guide to building safety costs in England, which gave advice on Frequently Asked Questions, to explain these legal changes. The explanatory notes have been updated following Royal Assent and will be published shortly. The government also intends to publish more detailed guidance on how the leasehold protections work in practice, now that the accompanying secondary legislation has come into force.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to publish (a) explanatory notes and (b) guidance on the Government’s waterfall model of liability set out in the Building Safety Act 2022.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government is clear that those responsible for historical building safety defects must pay to put them right. The Building Safety Act 2022 brings forward robust and far-reaching legal protections for leaseholders from historical building safety costs. The leaseholder protection provisions eradicate the idea that the first port of call to pay to fix historical safety defects should be leaseholders. Where those directly responsible (e.g. developers) cannot be held to account, building owners and landlords are now the first port of call to pay for historical safety defects, not leaseholders.
The Act makes it clear who is liable to pay for the remediation of historical building safety defects. The Act sets out in law where the liability sits, and developers, building owners and landlords must meet their obligations. Besides the leaseholder protection measures, there is already a plan for the remediation of unsafe cladding - developers will fix their own buildings, and funding will continue to be available via the Building Safety Fund, as well as a new scheme for buildings between 11-18 metres.
Where it is not possible to identify those directly responsible for historical building safety defects, the protections spread the costs of decades of malpractice equitably across the system. Even where costs are shared with leaseholders up to the maximum capped account, building owner and landlords are liable for a share of the remainder, in accordance with the regulations on apportionment. The Act also contains enforcement powers for those circumstances where landlords and building owners do not comply with the leaseholder protection measures.
We want building owners and landlords to be able to pursue those responsible for defective work and recover costs to fund remediation works. That is why the Building Safety Act includes an ambitious toolkit of measures to allow those responsible for defective work to be pursued. The Act has retrospectively extended the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from 6 to 30 years. The Act extends 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 can be pursed for contributions. The Act has also 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.
The leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act came into force on 28 June 2022. On 28 June, the Government published a guide to building safety costs in England, which gave advice on Frequently Asked Questions, to explain these legal changes. The explanatory notes have been updated following Royal Assent and will be published shortly. The government also intends to publish more detailed guidance on how the leasehold protections work in practice, now that the accompanying secondary legislation has come into force.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when the cladding remediation fund for buildings between 11 and 18 metres will be (a) finalised and (b) open for applications.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government is launching a new 11 to 18 metres cladding remediation scheme to fund work on buildings where a responsible developer cannot be identified. The new scheme will be funded by expanding the scope of the Building Safety Levy to raise an additional estimated £3 billion, providing the necessary funds to address cladding issues on these remaining buildings. We will announce further detail on the launch of the 11-18 metres Remediation Fund in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of developers that have signed up to the Government's building safety repair pledge.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government is clear that developers must take responsibility for buildings with which they are associated. As of 8 July, 48 developers have signed a pledge to undertake all necessary life-critical fire safety work on 11m+ buildings they had a role in developing or refurbishing over the past thirty years. Those pledges are being converted into legally binding contractual commitments. The department published the draft contract on 13 July
In parallel, the department continues to reach out to companies that were not involved in initial negotiations, inviting them to make similar commitments.
The Government intends to establish a statutory Responsible Actors Scheme that eligible developers who do the right thing will be permitted to join. Eligible developers who are not members of the scheme may face significant commercial consequences. We will also use our recovery strategy unit and new powers in the Building Safety Act to pursue companies who fail to do the right thing.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what his planned timetable is for finalising documentation to implement the developer’s pledge.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
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.
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 also engage other interested parties including representatives of building owners, managing agents, residents, leaseholders, lenders and insurers.
We plan to have the terms of the contract finalised by 10 August. We expect developers to have signed the contract before the end of September.
Asked by: Stephen Hammond (Conservative - Wimbledon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to engage with (a) building owners, (b) managing agents and (c) residents of buildings on delivery of the commitments pledged by developers for buildings those developers no longer own or control.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
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.
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 also engage other interested parties including representatives of building owners, managing agents, residents, leaseholders, lenders and insurers.
We plan to have the terms of the contract finalised by 10 August. We expect developers to have signed the contract before the end of September.