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What this means for your business

25 obligations

17 penalties

12 can imprison

18 guides

Enforced by: OPSS, BSR
Applies to: United Kingdom
On this page: 25 compliance obligations, 18 practical guides across 3 topics

Read full text on legislation.gov.uk

What you must do

25 compliance obligations under this legislation — 12 can result in imprisonment.

Risk assessment 1

If you are the accountable person for an occupied higher‑risk building, you must carry out a safety risk assessment for the parts of the building you control as soon as reasonably practicable after the building is occupied (or after you become accountable). You must repeat the assessment at regular intervals, whenever you suspect it is no longer valid, and whenever the regulator tells you to do so.

Any Person s.83 HSE You are the accountable person for an occupied higher‑risk building

Management duties 6

If your building has more than one accountable person, you must work together and keep each other informed about safety matters. You also need to cooperate with any fire‑safety responsible persons so they can carry out their duties. In practice this means sharing information, attending joint meetings and aligning your safety plans.

Employer s.109 HSE Applies when an occupied higher‑risk building has more than one accountable person, …

If you live in, or own, a unit in an occupied higher‑risk residential building, you must not do anything that could create a significant safety risk, must not interfere with common safety equipment, and must give any information the building’s accountable person reasonably asks for. In practice this means you keep clear of fire doors, alarms or other safety features and respond promptly to any information request.

Any Person s.95 HSE When you are a resident aged 16+ or an owner of a …

If you manufacture, supply or market a cladding product that does not meet the required building‑safety standards, or you give false information about it, and that product ends up on the external wall of a building making it unsafe to live in, you can be sued for damages. You cannot contract out of this liability, so you must make sure any cladding you provide complies with the relevant regulations and is accurately represented.

Manufacturer/Importer s.149 HSE You supply, market or manufacture a cladding product that is installed on …

If you build or sell new homes you must become a member of the new homes ombudsman scheme. This means paying any membership fee, providing the information the scheme demands, having a documented internal complaints handling process and, where required, publishing that process. You must keep these arrangements up to date and cooperate with the ombudsman’s investigations.

Trader/Business Schedule 9 HSE If your business is required to join the new homes ombudsman scheme …

If you are the accountable person for an occupied higher‑risk building, you must take all reasonable steps to stop safety risks from happening and to lessen any impact if they do. This includes carrying out necessary work, following the prescribed safety principles, acting promptly, and putting in place systems to plan, organise, control, monitor and review those steps.

Employer s.84 HSE You are the accountable person for an occupied higher‑risk building

If the Building Safety Regulator tells you (as the accountable person/landlord) that it intends to apply for a special‑measures order for your occupied higher‑risk building, you must reply in writing within the time‑frame set out in that notice. You also need to review any financial‑management proposal the regulator sends and be prepared to make payments if the order later requires them.

Landlord/Property Owner Schedule 7 HSE The regulator proposes a special‑measures order for an occupied higher‑risk building.

Other requirements 1

You must cooperate with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and give them any information they ask for under Schedule 3 of the Building Safety Act. This duty applies even if the information is confidential, provided it does not breach data protection law. Share the information promptly and keep a record of what you have disclosed.

Any Person s.27 HSE When the regulator requests information under Schedule 3 of the Building Safety …

Offences and prohibitions 16

If you or your business fail to follow any requirement of the building regulations, you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you can be sentenced to up to two years’ imprisonment and face an unlimited fine, and if the breach continues after the conviction you may also be ordered to pay a daily fine of up to £200 for each day of non‑compliance.

Any Person s.39 OPSS

If you receive a compliance notice telling you to take certain steps or fix a breach of the building regulations and you fail to do so without a reasonable excuse, you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you can be fined without limit and, in the Crown Court, face up to two years’ imprisonment. A daily default fine (level 1 = £200) applies for each day the breach continues after conviction.

Any Person s.38 OPSS

If the building safety regulator tells you, as the principal accountable person for an occupied higher‑risk building, to apply for a building assessment certificate, you must do so within 28 days. Failing to make the application without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence. On conviction you face up to two years’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine, and on summary conviction you also incur a daily fine of up to £200 for each day the breach continues.

Any Person s.79 OPSS

If the regulator issues you a compliance notice (or urgent action notice) for a higher‑risk building and you do not follow it without a reasonable excuse, you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you face an unlimited fine, a daily default fine of up to level 1 for each day the breach continues, and up to two years’ imprisonment (or a shorter term if dealt with summarily).

Any Person s.99 OPSS

If you are the principal accountable person for an occupied higher‑risk building and you do not display the prescribed notice, the latest building assessment certificate and any relevant compliance notice in a prominent place, you commit an offence. Where a special measures order is in force you must not display the certificate at all. Conviction can lead to up to two years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine and, on a summary conviction, a daily fine of up to £200 for each day the breach continues after the conviction.

Any Person s.82 OPSS

If you are a registered building control approver, the contractor carrying out the work, or the local authority and you become aware that work has turned into higher‑risk building work, you must send a cancellation notice (and a copy to the regulator) as soon as reasonably practicable. Failing to do so without a reasonable excuse is a criminal offence. Conviction on summary (magistrates’) hearing carries an unlimited fine.

Any Person s.46 OPSS

If you are the accountable person for a higher‑risk building and you breach a building‑safety requirement without a reasonable excuse, and that breach puts people at a significant risk of death or serious injury, you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you could face up to two years' imprisonment, an unlimited fine and an additional daily fine of £200 for each day the breach continues after conviction.

Any Person s.101 OPSS

If an authorised officer (under the Building Safety Act) serves you with a written notice asking for information, documents or assistance and you do not comply without a reasonable excuse, you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you can be sentenced in the magistrates' court (summary) to up to the maximum summary term for either‑way offences and/or a fine, or in the Crown Court (indictment) to up to two years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

Any Person Schedule 2 OPSS

If you are the accountable person for an occupied higher‑risk building and you do not give the regulator the prescribed safety information at the required time or in the required way, you commit a criminal offence. The offence is tried in the Magistrates' Court and carries an unlimited fine on summary conviction, with no custodial sentence.

Any Person s.87 OPSS

If you are the outgoing accountable person for a higher‑risk building and you do not give the prescribed information to the new accountable person (or to the regulator) when your responsibility ends, you commit an offence. On conviction you can be fined – the fine is unlimited – and may face up to two years’ imprisonment. A daily default fine of up to £200 applies for each day the breach continues after the conviction.

Any Person s.90 OPSS

If a registered building control approver carries out a restricted activity or exercises a restricted function without first using a registered building inspector (or without seeking the inspector’s advice) and has no reasonable excuse, they commit a criminal offence. On conviction in the magistrates’ court the approver faces an unlimited fine.

Any Person s.44 OPSS

If you deliberately block or hinder an authorised officer who is carrying out a building‑safety function, you commit a criminal offence. On conviction in the magistrates’ court you can be fined up to £1,000. No prison term is provided for this offence.

Any Person s.23 OPSS

If you are the principal accountable person for a higher‑risk building and let the building be occupied before it is registered under the Building Safety Act, you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you can be sentenced to up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine, plus a daily fine of £200 for each day the breach continues after the conviction.

Any Person s.77 OPSS

If you let a resident move into a higher‑risk building, a new residential unit, or a building that has become higher‑risk before a completion certificate has been issued for that part of the building, you commit a criminal offence. You (the accountable person for that part of the building) can be prosecuted and, on conviction, face up to two years’ imprisonment and an unlimited fine. A defence is only available if you can show a reasonable excuse for the early occupation.

Any Person s.76 OPSS

If your company breaches the Building Safety Act and you, as a director, manager, secretary or other officer, either consented to, were involved in or were negligent about that breach, you can be prosecuted personally as well as the company. On conviction you face the same penalty as the corporation – up to two years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

Director/Officer s.40 OPSS

If you, or anyone acting for your business, give the Building Safety Regulator false or misleading information – for example in a compliance report, an application, or to avoid enforcement – you commit a criminal offence. On conviction you can be fined an unlimited amount and may also face up to two years' imprisonment. The case can be tried either in the Magistrates' Court or the Crown Court.

Any Person s.24 OPSS

Record keeping 1

If you run the new homes ombudsman scheme you must keep a current list of everyone who is a member of the scheme and make that list available for anyone in the public to look at at reasonable times.

Any Person s.141 HSE