The mandatory registration of existing occupied higher risk buildings (“HRBs“) with the new Building Safety Regulator will open on 6 April 2023 with a 6-month period to complete registration by 1 October 2023. New Buildings to be registered following completion from 1 October. The Government estimates that some 13,000 buildings will require registration, but the precise number is unknown. The registration needs to be done by the “principal accountable person” (as defined by the Building Safety Act (“BSA“)) itself, this will usually be the party responsible for repairing the common parts of a building (“PAP“).
The regulations relating to the registration of HRBs are known as the Higher Risk Building (Key Building Information etc) (England) Regulations 2023 (“Regulations“) which will apply in England (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will have their own regulations). Essentially, an HRB is a building over 18 metres or comprising 7 or more storeys and with 2 or more residential units. The height of a building is measured from ground level to the top floor surface of the top floor. Storeys completely below ground level and ones purely for roof-top plant or machinery are to be ignored in counting the number of storeys. Any mezzanine level is a storey if its internal floor area is at least half of the internal floor area of the largest story in the building not below ground level.
Certain existing buildings are to be excluded from the definition of HRBs for registration purposes, namely hotels, “secure residential institutions” (e.g. prisons), military premises, hospitals and care homes.
Key building information (as set out in the Regulations) in relation to the registration must be submitted in electronic form by the PAP or a person authorised on its behalf, within 28 days of registration. This information is quite extensive including details of materials used in construction and for older buildings may take some time to gather. It will therefore be sensible to have it ready at the time of registration or at least to be confident that it will be available within 28 days of registration. Any subsequent changes to the supplied information must be submitted within 28 days
You can sign up for information about and details of registration here. If any legal advice is required about whether your building(s) need to be registered, please contact a partner in our construction team.