How the Building Safety Regulator is undermining remediation efforts
In March 2025, Charmaine McQueen-Prince, Chair of Leasehold Reform at the RFA, wrote a piece in News on the Block which can be read here.
In response to the UK’s building safety crisis, in December 2024, the Government introduced its Remediation Acceleration Plan, aiming to expedite the remediation of buildings with unsafe cladding. While the plan acknowledges several key challenges, it critically overlooks significant obstacles: lack of essential guidance from the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) and delays in progressing applications submitted to the BSR for example, Building Control Applications (BCAs).
The current regime
The Remediation Acceleration Plan identifies various factors, which the Government believe are hindering progress, including:
- Landlords failing to act promptly
- Insufficient regulatory capacity to process applications efficiently
- Social housing providers struggling with funding and resources
- Developers disputing liability and scope of works
- A shortage of skilled professionals to carry out the work
However, the plan fails to address the lack of essential guidance and severe delays in BSR processing of BCAs. These issues are critical – they are exacerbating the crisis by stalling projects, driving up costs and leaving leaseholders in limbo for longer than necessary, seemingly without any accountability.
Before any work can commence, BCAs must be approved to ensure compliance with safety standards. The BSR is mandated to assess and determine applications, on existing buildings, within eight weeks unless an extension is formally agreed. Yet, real-world cases reveal that the BSR is failing to meet this requirement. Here are just some examples from the RFA’s portfolio:
- Building A: The BCA was submitted on 24th September 2024, with a statutory eight-week deadline of 24th November 2024. The BSR submitted two extension requests, setting the proposed determination date for 24th January 2025. As of 6th March, no decision has been made.
- Building B: The BCA was submitted on 12th November 2024, with a statutory eight-week deadline of 12th January 2025. The BSR submitted one extension request. As of 6th March, no decision has been made.
- Building C: The BCA was submitted on 15th November 2024, with a statutory eight-week deadline of 15th January 2025. The BSR has made two extension requests, proposing a new determination date of 13th May 2025 and a further request has been made to push the determination date to 5th June 2025.
- Building D: The BCA was submitted on 6th November 2024, with a statutory eight-week deadline of 6th January 2025. The BSR submitted one extension request. On 3rd March, the contractor and lead consultant attended a BSR meeting, where the BCA was rejected, with formal correspondence to follow. It is unclear whether the amended BCA application will require the full statutory period.
When the BSR fails to process BCAs on time entire projects come to a standstill, costs escalate, and leaseholders remain stuck in unsafe homes with no resolution in sight. The delays also mean there is no guarantee that building owners will be able to retain the main contractor for remedial works, which is likely to result in another tendering exercise, incurring further costs.
There is no doubt that the backlog undermines confidence in the system, leaving leaseholders frustrated by the lack of progress, while public trust in government commitments to building safety continues to erode.
The Path Forward
For the Remediation Acceleration Plan to be truly effective, the Government must directly address the systemic inefficiencies within the BSR. Key measures should include:
- Improving BSR Guidance
- Acknowledging BSR delays as a fundamental issue in the remediation process
- Holding the regulator accountable for meeting application deadlines
- Increasing transparency surrounding BCAs and the determination process
- Improving communication between the BSR, landlords, and leaseholders to ensure all stakeholders remain informed
- Exempting certain categories of work from the requirement for consent
If the Government is serious about resolving the building safety crisis and fixing buildings quickly, it must confront the BSR’s chronic failure to meet its deadlines. The regulatory system should facilitate solutions, not obstruct them.
Addressing these challenges is not just a policy necessity – it is a moral imperative. Only by tackling BSR inefficiencies can the Government ensure that remediation efforts progress effectively, restoring safety, stability, and trust in the system.