Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate her Department has made of the potential impact of the time spent by the Building Safety Regulator to (a) determine and (b) issue a decision on an application for a building assessment certificate on costs for accountable persons.

The Building Safety Act 2022 (“the Act”) requires the Principal Accountable Person to apply for a Building Assessment Certificate when directed to do so by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). Under the Act, accountable persons may pass on costs they incur in meeting their building safety obligations to leaseholders via the service charge. The government recognises that there will be costs associated with implementing building safety requirements and considers these to be vital to ensuring fire and structural risks in higher-risk buildings are properly managed to ensure residents are and feel safe in their homes.

The assumptions for the Building Assessment Certificate process do not distinguish between "Determine" and "Issue". The Regulator operates independently of MHCLG and the BSR have advised that their initial estimates range from £7,488 to £20,736 per assessment depending on the complexity and quality of the submission. The BSR have stated that they consider it too early to assess how many buildings will fall into each category or whether they will need to update these assumptions over time.