More leaseholders could be protected from the cost of fixing historic fire-safety defects under proposals announced as the Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill reaches its second reading in the House of Commons.
The measures announced on 27 October would extend financial protection to some owners who currently fall outside the Building Safety Act 2022 regime, including leaseholders in collectively owned and enfranchised buildings and people who owned between four and six properties on the qualifying date of 14 February 2022.
The Government is also preparing a scheme to recover more remediation costs from construction product manufacturers connected with historic unsafe cladding and insulation products. Details of the new protections and manufacturer scheme are due to be added as the Bill passes through Parliament or published alongside it.
External remediation works underway on a multi-storey residential building in Basildon, Essex. Photo: London Construction Magazine.
Protection could extend to owners of up to six properties
Existing leaseholder protections depend partly on a property's status on 14 February 2022. A lease can qualify where the flat was the owner's only or main home at that date, or where the owner held no more than three UK properties. That status then follows the lease when the property is sold.
This can leave a later purchaser outside some cost protections even when the flat becomes their only home. The Government's 27 October announcement says ministers are examining how to narrow that gap.
A separate proposal would raise the property ownership threshold from three to six. People who owned four, five or six properties on 14 February 2022 could therefore gain protection from some non-cladding building-safety costs where they were previously outside the qualifying group.
Collectively owned buildings get a new funding route
The Government also plans financial support for leaseholders in collectively owned and enfranchised buildings. These arrangements can fall outside existing leaseholder protections because there is no separate freeholder standing between the residents and the remediation liability.
The proposed funding would contribute towards remediation of high-risk and high-cost internal fire-safety defects. Eligibility rules, funding levels and the process for accessing the support are still to be set out.
The funding issue sits alongside the physical difficulty of moving remediation projects into construction. LCM recently reported on Archway Heights in Islington, where a nine-storey block remains at the building-control approval stage despite a cladding replacement procurement dating back to 2022.
Manufacturers face a wider route to remediation claims
Construction product manufacturers are another target of the Bill. The Government's guide to the legislation sets out changes intended to make claims against manufacturers of unsafe products easier to bring.
The proposed test would focus on whether a product was unsafe or misleading conduct occurred, and whether that product made more than a trivial contribution to the building being unsafe. Developers and others that have funded remediation would also be able to pursue manufacturers directly.
Courts would retain responsibility for deciding liability and damages. The manufacturer provisions are intended to apply to new claims and existing proceedings within the Building Safety Act's 30-year limitation period, with the changes planned to take effect two months after Royal Assent.
£500,000 penalties sit behind the remediation duty
The wider Bill creates a legal duty for responsible entities to assess, mitigate and remediate life-critical external-wall fire-safety risks. Where a responsible entity deliberately fails to take the required steps, the enforcement regime includes criminal prosecution or a financial penalty of up to £500,000.
A new remediation backstop would also allow public authorities to intervene where the existing duty-holder has failed to deliver the works. A local authority or Homes England could ultimately seek a Remediation Management Order from the First-tier Tribunal and take control of the remediation process.
The approach builds on the enforcement direction already seen this year. LCM examined the creation of the BSR Remediation Enforcement Unit, which was formed to pursue stalled remediation cases and put greater pressure on building owners and responsible parties.
The Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 14 October 2026. Its second reading is scheduled for 27 October, after which the programme motion provides for detailed scrutiny by a Public Bill Committee, with committee proceedings scheduled to conclude by 8 December 2026.
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