Building Safety: New guidance for responsible persons

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 (the “Regulations”), which came into force in January 2023 this year, impose significant new obligations on those responsible for the management of multi-unit residential buildings in England, with the range and nature of the obligations increasing as the height of the relevant building increases. The Regulations are considered in more detail here.  

The Home Office has now published guidance on the application of the Regulations and the various new duties placed on the persons who are deemed to be Responsible Persons in relation to multi-unit residential buildings in England.

The new guidance provides valuable insights into the practical steps that should be taken to ensure compliance with the new duties and requirements under the Regulations in order to avoid the risk of sanctions under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and we recommend that anyone who is, or thinks that they might be, a Responsible Person for a residential building reviews the new guidance (which can be found here).

If you require any advice in relation to the application of the Regulations, or building safety more generally, please contact Tom Weld.

This post was written by Tom Weld and Elliot Hawes.