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Leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act came into force on 28 June 2022. It looks to deliver protections for qualifying leaseholders from the costs associated with remediating historical building safety defects, and further measures that will allow those responsible for building safety defects to be held to account.
The Act makes it clear that developers must pay to fix buildings they have had a role in developing or refurbishing, even where they no longer own the building.
Eligible leaseholders are protected from all external cladding system remediation costs. The law also sets a cap on contributions from eligible leaseholders for non-cladding defects. If remediation costs exceed the cap, building owners must make up the difference.
The full table for applicable caps is available on the GOV.UK website. The cap is determined by the location of the property and the property value (for example, a property based outside of London with a value of £175,000 - £324,999 is subject to a cap of £10,000). Even if a contribution is required the contribution can be spread over ten years.
What leases qualify?
A qualifying lease must be for a single dwelling within a building of above 11 meters high or at least five storeys and the lease must be for more than 21 years. The leaseholder must also pay a service charge. The lease must have begun before 14 February 2022 and as of this same date the dwelling must have been the leaseholder’s only or main home and the leaseholder must not have owned more than 3 dwellings on this date.
To qualify for protection and as evidence of this qualification, the status of the lease on that key date must now be documented in a Leaseholder Deed of Certificate. The Leaseholder Deed of Certificate will become a necessity in conveyancing transactions going forward and can be downloaded from GOV.UK. You can choose to complete and send a Deed of Certificate to your landlord at any time. Additional questions are now included in the Leasehold Property Enquiries form as part of the conveyancing process. These additional enquiries will cover whether the Leaseholder Deed of Certificate has been served on the landlord and whether a landlord’s certificate has been served.
GOV.UK has produced a checklist to allow leaseholders to check whether they will have to pay to replace cladding or to fix other safety problems within a building. Please follow the link to access this checklist: https://www.gov.uk/check-building-safety-costs.
For more information on leasehold conveyancing contact Frank Smith & Co Solicitors on 01242 801 748 or email info@franksmithandco.com.
