Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of building assessment certificate application refusals on the lending, mortgage and insurance markets.

From 16 January 2024, the Building Safety Act introduced a requirement for Principal Accountable Persons to assess and manage the safety risks relating to the buildings for which they are responsible. Building safety risks are defined in the Act as being spread of fire and structural failure.

A Building Assessment Certificate (BAC) is issued by the Building Safety Regulator when it is assessed that these and other relevant legal duties are being met. A BAC application may be refused for a variety of reasons, for example where the safety case report or the residents’ engagement strategy are insufficient or incomplete. It is important to note therefore that a decision to refuse the application for a BAC does not necessarily mean that the building is unsafe.

Lenders and insurers have their own, well-established, mechanisms for assessing a building’s condition, on which they base their commercial decisions.

We engage regularly with the lending and insurance industries, who have not raised BAC application refusals as a concern, but we encourage industry and individuals to bring any concerns to the attention of the Department.