The Building Safety Act, which recently gained royal
assent (as of April 2022) now looks to have taken a positive step toward a
resolve in the building safety crisis. Achieved by a fundamental change in how
buildings are designed, built and managed going forward, this should see a
reduction in deaths and injuries.
This month’s blog at Denfords Property Management looks
at the Building
Safety Act of 2022. For more information, call us in Southampton on 023 8038 6970.
Leaseholder Protection
Under the new act, landlords and/or developers will be held
liable for any costs in relation to historical building safety defects. The
bifactors of this are leaseholders who are living in their own homes or who own
anywhere up to three properties within the UK that are medium/high rise
buildings.
Retrospective Liability
Amendments made to the Defective
Premises Act (DPA) means it now covers refurbishments and other work, and
also extends the period for compensation claims in relation to retrospective
work from 6 to 30 years. A proposal 12 months ago to raise this to 15 years was
denied, also the DPA applies to any design, workmanship or expenditure of
materials which effect the dwellings liveability.
Both the RIBA
and CIC have expressed their serious concerns over potential consequences of extended
liability periods, most notably the impact to the professional indemnity
insurance market.
Construction Product Safety
A National Regulator for Construction Products (NRCR) will
be set up within the already present Office for Product Safety and Standards
(OPSS). Regulators will have the jurisdiction to withdraw any products deemed
unsafe from the market and issue penalties against the manufacturers
responsible.
Suppliers of faulty building materials will also be forced
to pay damages to people holding any form of interest in effected buildings.
This mandatory compensation will also extend to people suffering economic loss
such as architects being able to seek redress against suppliers and
manufacturers.
ARB Competence Monitoring
The ARB will receive new powers to monitor the training and
development of architects throughout their careers allowing maintenance of
their competence. They also have the clearance to strike off any architect who
does not meet the competence requirements.
The ARB are planning to bring in its own scheme for the
monitoring of continuing professional development (CPD). RIBA has recently
expressed concern that ARB proposals for monitoring CPD will lead to a
prescriptive parallel system to the RIBA’s own CPD requirements.
Contact Denfords Property Management
For more information about the new building safety act,
contact Denfords Property Management. Call us in Southampton on 023 8038 6970.
Alternatively, you can make an enquiry through our contact form.
