The period over which homeowners can claim compensation has been extended from six years to 15 years. The rule has been brought in under the Building Safety Bill published today, and will be overseen by the Building Safety Regulator.
Housing secretary Robert Jenrick said the bill was key to the overhaul of building safety laws, giving residents more power to hold builders and developers to account and toughen the sanctions against those who threaten their safety.
The extension to the compensation period applies retrospectively so that residents of a building completed in 2010 can sue the developer until 2025.
These reforms also include measures which apply to those seeking compensation for shoddy refurbishments which make homes unliveable.
New measures in the bill will also:
• Ensure there are clearly identified people responsible for safety during the design, build and occupation of a high-rise residential building.
• Establish a Building Safety Regulator to hold to account those who break the rules and are not properly managing building safety risks, including taking enforcement action where needed.
• Give residents in these buildings more routes to raise concerns about safety, and mechanisms to ensure their concerns will be heard and taken seriously.
• Drive cultural change across the industry to enable the design and construction of high-quality, safe homes.
Jenrick said: “This bill will ensure high standards of safety for people’s homes, and in particular for high rise buildings, with a new regulator providing essential oversight at every stage of a building’s lifecycle from design, construction, completion to occupation.
“The new building safety regime will be a proportionate one, ensuring those buildings requiring remediation are brought to an acceptable standard of safety swiftly, and reassuring the vast majority of residents and leaseholders in those buildings that their homes are safe.”
