From 28 June 2022, the Building Safety Act gave leaseholders in buildings of at least 11 metres or 5 storeys with historical safety defects financial protections. The protections prevent a landlord passing on the cost of putting right these defects via the service charge to leaseholders.
The law is quite complex on this area and the level of protection given depends on several factors. The most important being whether the leaseholder held a “qualifying lease” as of the 14 February 2022. You held a “qualifying lease” if you, or the previous owner, lived at the property as their main home, or if they did not, they did not own more than 3 properties in total in the UK.
If you have a “qualifying lease” you are protected from all costs to do with unsafe cladding and there is a cap on the amount that a landlord can pass on for non-cladding costs.
If the Landlord was responsible for the defect, for example if they were the developer, or associated with the developer, then the landlord cannot recover the cost of any cladding or non-cladding remediation costs via the service charge. This is the case even if you do not have a “qualifying lease”.
Landlords must provide a completed landlord certificate, if you request one, and in certain other circumstances, certifying if they were responsible for the defect and showing their net wealth. The latter is relevant as to how much they can pass on for non-cladding costs, if anything.
Your landlord can also ask you to complete a leaseholder deed of certificate that you must provide to your landlord showing whether you held a “qualifying lease” on the 14 February 2022.
More information you might find useful:
- Do I qualify for protection from paying to fix my building’s safety defects?
- What is the Building Safety Fund?
- As an economic actor, will the Building Safety Fund be capped for my building?
- More Frequently Asked Questions on Fire safety
Still not found the answer?
Contact LEASE to have your enquiry dealt with by one of our experienced advisers.
