Write to your MP on building safety funding
Members of the NRLA who have been excluded from the Building Safety Act’s leaseholder protections are being urged to write to their MP to support an Early Day Motion that has been tabled on the matter.
The UK Government introduced the Building Safety Act in 2022. The Act changes the way in which buildings are constructed and managed, and also seeks to ensure that leaseholders do not have to pay to fix safety failures in buildings in which they played no part developing.
The Act introduces a cap on the costs of remediating fire safety defects for some leaseholders. These are known as leaseholder protections. However, only ‘qualifying leaseholders’ are able to benefit from the protections, and landlords may find themselves liable for the full cost of fixing safety defects.
Now, an Early Day Motion by the Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP has been tabled, calling for the Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, to hold the responsible parties accountable for safety failures in buildings of all heights and introduce a building safety fund for remediating failures on buildings under 11 metres in height.
Early-day motions are motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons, and though most do not get debated, they are often used to put on record the views of individual MPs or to draw attention to specific events or campaigns.
NRLA members can use the new letter template to write to their local MP and encourage them to add their support to this Early Day Motion.
The association is calling for the introduction of a Building Safety Remediation Scheme to ensure that all buildings with safety defects – regardless of height or ownership – are remediated under the ‘polluter pays’ principle.
Letters can be downloaded and submitted directly to MPs by the NRLA’s online tool. To the template letter click here.
The NRLA would be grateful if members would share any replies received, and forward to: [email protected].
• Building safety was a topic that was recently discussed on Episode 30 of the NRLA’s podcast, Listen Up Landlords. To listen to the episode, click here.
• In June, the NRLA also released template letters for members to write to their MP about rental reform, following the publication of the Renters (Reform) Bill in May.
