The Building Safety Act 2022 sets out the broad range of defects to which the leaseholder protections apply. The core principle is that the historical defect puts people's safety at risk from the spread of fire, or structural collapse.

The Building Safety Act 2022 also provides a toolkit of measures to enable those responsible for defective work to be pursued. These include retrospectively extending the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from six to 30 years where claims can be made for defective work relating to the construction of dwellings where the work rendered the dwelling unfit for habitation at the time of completion

Additionally, civil claims can now be brought against manufacturers of, or those who have supplied, defective or mis-sold construction products, or those who have supplied or marketed in breach of regulations, where these products have been incorporated in a dwelling and that has caused or contributed to a dwelling being unfit for habitation.

The Government does not hold estimates for how many homes per constituency have these features overall. However, BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Homes Grant (GHG) Government schemes, around 800 cavity wall insulation measures, 100 loft insulation measures and less than 5 under floor insulation measures^[1] were installed in Putney constituency. This data collectively spans the period from January 2013 to September 2022 and does not include installations in October 2022.

^[1]Exact number suppressed to prevent disclosure

The Government does not hold estimates for how many homes per constituency have these features overall. However, BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Homes Grant (GHG) Government schemes, around 800 cavity wall insulation measures, 100 loft insulation measures and less than 5 under floor insulation measures^[1] were installed in Putney constituency. This data collectively spans the period from January 2013 to September 2022 and does not include installations in October 2022.

^[1]Exact number suppressed to prevent disclosure

The Government does not hold estimates for how many homes per constituency have these features overall. However, BEIS estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Homes Grant (GHG) Government schemes, around 800 cavity wall insulation measures, 100 loft insulation measures and less than 5 under floor insulation measures^[1] were installed in Putney constituency. This data collectively spans the period from January 2013 to September 2022 and does not include installations in October 2022.

^[1]Exact number suppressed to prevent disclosure

We have brought forward an ambitious toolkit of measures under the Building Safety Act 2022, which enables those responsible for defective work to be pursued. Civil claims can now be brought against manufacturers of, or those who have supplied, defective or mis-sold construction products, or those who have supplied or marketed in breach of regulations, where these products have been incorporated in a dwelling and that has caused or contributed to a dwelling being unfit for habitation. This provision, which applies to all dwellings, has retrospective effect for cladding products with a limitation period of 30 years and prospective effect for all construction products with a limitation period of 15 years.

The Act retrospectively extends the limitation period under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972 from six to 30 years and extends the reach of civil liability to associated companies of developers, including trusts, to ensure that those businesses in the sector who have used shell companies and other complex corporate structures can be pursued for contributions towards the remediation of historical safety defects. These provisions will help to ensure that all parties that play a part in creating building safety defects are in line for costs to rectify them.

The Act gives the Secretary of State the power to establish a statutory scheme to distinguish between industry actors that have committed to take responsibility for making buildings safe, including by remedying defective buildings, and those that fail to do so. The Act also gives the Secretary of State powers to prevent those that have failed to take responsibility from carrying out development for which planning permission has been granted, and to prevent them from receiving building control approval on their developments. This means that those that take responsibility and do the right thing can continue to go about their business freely and with confidence, while those that don't may suffer commercial and reputational consequences.

Additionally, anti-avoidance and enforcement provisions - including remediation orders and remediation contributions orders - are included in the Act to ensure that those who are liable to pay under leaseholder protections actually do so. Relevant authorities now have the power to compel responsible entities to fund and undertake the necessary remediation work. Where firms are repeatedly refusing to pay to fix these buildings, the government's new Recovery Strategy Unit will pursue these firms, working closely with other enforcement authorities.

In the Government's British Energy Security Strategy , published earlier this year, we committed to reviewing the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. Work on the review is currently underway and we will make an announcement on the outcome in due course.

In the Government's British Energy Security Strategy , published earlier this year, we committed to reviewing the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. Work on the review is currently underway and we will make an announcement on the outcome in due course.

In the Government's British Energy Security Strategy , published earlier this year, we committed to reviewing the practical planning barriers that households can face when installing energy efficiency measures, including in conservation areas and listed buildings. Work on the review is currently underway and we will make an announcement on the outcome in due course.

The Building Safety Act confirmed that those at fault, not blameless leaseholders, will be the ones who pay to fix unsafe cladding. This has further removed risk for lenders and will help restore common sense to the market. Following this the largest mortgage lenders confirmed in July 2022 that, subject to their normal policy requirements, they will lend on any property that is part of a developer or government remediation scheme or properties that are protected by the new statutory protections, as evidenced by a qualifying lease certificate. This statement can be found here.

The Government is advancing work with the industry to quickly operationalise these changes and are driving engagement with lenders and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to achieve this.

Absolutely. In the first instance, I will ask Lord Greenhalgh to investigate, and then we will of course follow up with a meeting.

Over 35 developers have agreed to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical, fire-safety defects on buildings 11 metres and over that they had a role in developing or refurbishing over the past 30 years. This includes non-cladding.

In addition to the commitment made by firms to fix buildings they have played a role in developing in the last 30 years we will establish a new 11-18m cladding remediation scheme through which to fund work on buildings where a responsible developer cannot be identified. The new scheme will be funded by expanding the scope of the Building Safety Levy to raise an additional estimated £3bn, providing the necessary funds to address cladding issues on these remaining buildings.

In addition, leaseholders who are buy-to-let landlords are able to benefit from funding from the Building Safety Fund for eligible remediation works on residential buildings 18 metres and above in England, subject to the relevant subsidy control requirements. Eligibility criteria for the Building Safety Fund can be found in the Building Safety Fund Prospectus at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#prospectus---outlining-eligibility-for-the-fund(opens) and specific guidance on subsidy control and declarations can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings#subsidy-control-guidance-and-declaration(opens ).

The Building Safety Bill introduces further leasehold protections. It eradicates the idea that leaseholders should be the first port of call to pay to fix historical building safety defects. Those responsible, and otherwise those with the broadest shoulders, will be the first who are required to pay. Where there is no party that clearly should pay in full for non-cladding defects, and only in this scenario, our approach spreads the costs and ensures above all that the most vulnerable leaseholders are protected. Importantly, any leaseholder contributions for non-cladding defects and interim measures will be subject to a fixed cap. Going forward, most qualifying leaseholders will pay less than the cap, and many will pay nothing at all.

We are clear that building owners and industry should make buildings safe without passing on costs to leaseholders, and leaseholders living in their own medium and high-rise buildings should not have to pay to remediate historic cladding defects that are no fault of their own. That is why we are bringing forth statutory protections in the Building Safety Bill to ensure leaseholders are protected. Developers and freeholders should not be passing on cladding remediation costs to leaseholders in flats over 11 metres through increases to the service charge.

The Government believes very strongly that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. The law is clear that service charges and any increase in costs must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard. We established an independent working group chaired by Lord Best to raise standards across the property sector, which also considered improvements to the transparency of service charges. The working group published its final report to Government (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulation-of-property-agents-working-group-report) and we are considering the report’s recommendations.

Building work must comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations. The building control body will inspect building work on site at appropriate stages. The local authority has the power, under Section 36 of the Building Act, to take enforcement action against non-compliant work. It is the duty of anyone responsible for building work to understand and meet their legal obligations.

Local authorities have duties under the Housing Act 2004 to keep under review the conditions of residential buildings in their areas, as well as powers to act (including formal enforcement) where they consider significant hazards exist. The Government has set out its expectation that local authorities play a key role in addressing the risks of unsafe cladding on high-rise residential buildings in their areas.