The Building Safety Act 2022 (“BSA”) was introduced following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 and imposes new legal obligations on landlords of affected buildings to make those buildings safe. This includes replacing dangerous cladding and fixing historical safety defects. The BSA is a complex piece of legislation but includes provisions on the extent to which leaseholders are entitled to protection and to have the costs for remediation work paid by the landlord.
The buildings affected are broadly those that are at least eleven metres high or have at least five stories, and have at least two residential units within them.
Please see our BSA portal for further background information on the BSA, including what is a “qualifying lease”, along with relevant resources. This article considers how the BSA may impact executors, trustees and attorneys who are landlords or leaseholders of an affected building.
Leaseholders
It is questionable whether an executor of a deceased leaseholder will be able to claim the same protection under the BSA as the leaseholder may have been entitled to during lifetime. This will certainly be the case where the leaseholder died prior to 14 February 2022 (unless the executor also occupied the property and the lease is a “qualifying lease”) and, for deaths after this date, the BSA is silent on the extent to which executors can claim protection. In such instances, the leaseholder’s estate may be on the foot for unexpected remedial costs before the executors can sell the property.
Where trustees own a lease in an affected building, it is unclear whether they would be entitled to the leaseholder protections as they are unlikely to be in occupation and therefore unable to satisfy the “qualifying lease” criteria; however, this seems open to challenge, as the BSA does not expressly cover the point.
It is equally uncertain whether an attorney of a vulnerable person who owns a lease in an affected building would satisfy the criteria for the leaseholder protections.
Affected executors, trustees and attorneys should take advice on how the BSA affects them and the best course of action. Given the uncertainty in this area, it goes without saying that it is far better, where possible, for affected leaseholders to establish their BSA rights during lifetime, before creation of a trust or loss of capacity.
Landlords
If you are a landlord of an affected property through your role as executor, trustee or attorney, you will need to establish your obligations under the BSA in respect of remedying defects and the associated costs you will need to bear. There are strict time limits within the BSA for landlords to provide information to leaseholders where requested.
Where executors, trustees or attorneys are affected by the BSA, we work closely with our Real Estate Group who have the breadth and expertise to advise and deal with the relevant BSA issues.