The Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill: Key Points

On 14 October 2026, the UK government published a new Building Safety (Remediation of Unsafe Cladding etc) Bill, accompanied by a guide to the new Bill. The aim of the proposed new legislation is to accelerate the remediation of residential buildings with unsafe cladding. It builds on and extends the regime created by the Building Safety Act 2022 (“BSA 2022”) and the Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026. This article sets out the main highlights of the Bill as it currently stands.

Legal Duty to Remediate

Chapter 1 of the Bill introduces a legal duty for responsible entities to assess, mitigate and remediate life-critical external wall fire safety risks in multi-occupied residential buildings in England that are over 11 metres or at least five storeys high and were completed before 28 June 2022. It covers private and social housing, excluding buildings covered by the Developer Remediation Contract.

Responsible entities, including freeholders, certain leaseholders, right to manage companies and resident management companies, must assess their buildings within 12 months of Royal Assent. Fire Risk Appraisal of External Walls (FRAEW) assessments must follow the PAS 9980 methodology, with the aim being to establish a standardised approach to assessing external walls and supporting the enforcement of the duties to assess, mitigate and remediate.

Where remediation is required, responsible entities must produce and publish a Remediation Compliance Plan within 15 months of Royal Assent of the Bill. This must outline the proposed works, timescales and relevant corporate accountability information, and be shared with residents and leaseholders. The cost of preparing the plan cannot be passed to qualifying leaseholders.

Unsafe cladding must be permanently remediated as soon as reasonably practicable, with interim measures implemented where necessary. Failure to comply without reasonable excuse may result in criminal prosecution, imprisonment of up to two years or financial penalties of up to £500,000. Directors may also face prosecution where their actions contribute to non-compliance. The Bill introduces an obstruction offence, with fines of up to £40,000 for individuals and revenue-based penalties for companies. Parent companies may also be held financially accountable in serious cases.  Local authorities, fire and rescue authorities, and the Building Safety Regulator will enforce compliance. Safeguards will protect those experiencing genuine delays beyond their control. Government funding will be available for required remediation, meaning leaseholders should not have to pay towards these works.

Remediation Management Orders and a ‘remediation backstop’

One of the government’s objectives in the Remediation Acceleration Plan was to ensure that no building was ‘left behind’. One of the concerns about the existing legislative and policy framework has been how to make sure all buildings are remediated even where the persons responsible for them are either absent or untraceable, or ignoring their building safety obligations. The Bill sets out to create what the government guide calls a ‘Remediation Backstop’, so that even where parties ignore or avoid their existing and proposed duties to remediate, there will be a mechanism by which public authorities can take charge of the remediation process.

Chapter 2 of Part 1 of the Bill, together with Schedule 1, would create a new regime of ‘remediation management orders’. This would allow certain public authorities to apply to the First-tier Tribunal so that they may be given powers to remediate the external walls of mid- and high-rise buildings. An order could include provision for some or all payments by leaseholders (such as rent or service charges) to be re-directed to the remediating authority to pay for the cost of remediation. At the end of the works, the remediation authority can then serve a ‘costs notice’ to allow them to recover the cost of the works from the recalcitrant duty holder for the building. It is intended that the backstop will primarily be operated by Homes England, but it will also allow local authorities to take action as well.

Construction product manufacturer redress: section 149 of the BSA 2022

The Bill proposes ameliorating difficulties in making claims under s. 149 of the BSA 2022 including by amending the section as follows:

• Replacing the requirement (s.149(2)(b)) that a supplier or marketer of a cladding product “makes a misleading statement” with “engages in misleading conduct” in relation to it;
• Substituting the requirement (s.149(2)(c)) that a cladding product is inherently “defective” with the requirement that it is inherently “unsafe”. It is proposed that a product is “inherently unsafe” if (whether or not because of any failing in its design or manufacture) the ordinary use of the product creates an “unreasonable risk to safety”;
• Simplifying the “causation” test (“Condition D”) under s.149(5): it will be sufficient to show that a product “contributed more than trivially” to (as opposed to being “one of the causes of”) the building or dwelling being unfit for habitation;
• The provisions of s.149 in respect of a ‘cladding product requirement’ are omitted, leaving misleading conduct and inherently unsafe product as the relevant routes to liability;
• Widening the class of potential claimant to enable those who have funded or are liable to fund remediation (e.g. developers) to bring claims directly against manufacturers.

Courts will also be able to require companies to provide relevant product and producer information to evidence claims against them.

Remediation Orders (“ROs”) and Remediation Contribution Orders (“RCOs”)

Limitation: Clauses 89 and 90 of the Bill insert provisions in the existing legislation to make clear that no time limit under the Limitation Act 1980 applies to the ability to apply for an RO or RCO (or building liability order under s. 130 of the BSA 2022).

RO enforcement: Clause 91 amends s. 123 of the BSA 2022 to provide that regulations made thereunder may include provision for:

• a specified person to require another person to provide information for the purpose of monitoring compliance with an RO (“information provision”); and
• the Tribunal to impose a financial penalty for failing to comply with:
  • an RO (maximum £500,000), or
  • a requirement imposed under information provision (maximum £40,000).

Clause 92 makes similar provision in relation to s. 114 of the BS(W)A 2026.

Trusts of payments under RCOs: There are currently no controls on how funds ordered to be paid under an RCO are to be held by the recipient. Clause 93 inserts new ss 124A and 124B of the BSA 2022. New s. 124A requires a recipient under an RCO to hold money paid for the purpose of meeting payments not yet made by the recipient on trust:

• for that purpose,
• subject to that, for the payer, and
• subject to that, to be applied for service charges etc, in accordance with a new s. 124B.

Clause 94 amends s. 115 of the BS(W)A 2026 to provide that regulations made thereunder may provide for payments under an RCO to be held on trust.

The Medium Rise Building Register

Part 2 of the Bill will give the Secretary of State the power to create a register of occupied medium-rise buildings, being those that are 11 to 18 metres in height or which have at least 5 storeys but fewer than 7.  By virtue of the BSA 2022, the Government already holds a complete record of buildings that are 18 metres and above in height but there are concerns that not all medium rise buildings with potentially dangerous cladding have been identified.

The Bill will create a “registration duty-holder”, being an organisation or individual who owns or has a legal obligation to repair any common parts of the building, who will have to register the building, provide key details and pay a registration charge.  Failure to register, provide or update the required information could result in a fine up to £7,000 with continued non-compliance resulting in a fine of up to £40,000 or criminal prosecution which could result in an unlimited fine and/or a custodial sentence.

The medium rise building register will only come into effect once the necessary secondary legislation has been laid, which is anticipated to be 8 to 10 months after Royal Assent of the Bill.

Regulator Co-operation & Beneficial Ownership

Alongside new duties to assess and fix unsafe external walls, the Bill strengthens enforcement through a statutory duty on fire safety regulators to cooperate and powers to identify who ultimately owns residential blocks.

Part 4 requires local housing authorities, fire and rescue authorities and the Building Safety Regulator (“BSR”) to cooperate where their functions overlap: sharing information, agreeing which body should act on a building, and coordinating action without duplication (s.74). The Regulator must publish a regulatory cooperation statement, including dispute-resolution arrangements, within eight months (s.75). Other authorities must use best endeavours to enter partnership working agreements within four months of that statement (ss.76–77). Authorities must supply information on request to each other, mayoral strategic authorities and the Secretary of State for MHCLG (s.78). The Secretary of State may issue statutory guidance, to which authorities must have regard (s.79).

Part 3 lets these regulators and Homes England serve building ownership information notices. Notices can require information on beneficial owners and associated persons behind companies, partnerships, trusts and foundations (ss.67–69). Information may be shared between regulators (s.72). Non-compliance risks prosecution or £40,000 penalties (ss.70–71). Corporate remediation compliance plans must publicly disclose beneficial owners and group structures (s.14(5)).

Conclusion

It is very likely that the Bill will be amended as it progresses through Parliament. The Building Safety Bill which became the BSA 2022 was itself heavily amended. Practitioners in Wales should note that, as currently drafted, it would amend the Building Safety (Wales) Act 2026 (which received Royal Assent on 27 April 2026, but large parts of which have not as yet been brought into force); how the 2026 Act will be implemented alongside the proposed new legislation is not clear. Those advising in this area should be alert to the fact that the building safety regime in England and Wales is likely to continue to change in the next few years.