1 October 2023 – Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 comes into force

On 1 October 2023 Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 comes into force. It amends the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 by adding to the existing duties of Responsible Persons. It is the task of the Responsible Person to make sure that the fire safety assessment for a building is done properly.

In particular, it introduces new rules about fire safety to ensure that occupiers in a building receive due and proper fire safety guidance for their building.

This includes:

• The Responsible Person is the person in charge of fire safety, and they are obliged to keep a detailed record of the fire safety assessment;
• The Responsible Person must also record who does or checks the fire safety assessment and they also need to be able to demonstrate how fire safety is managed in the building;
• The Responsible Person is obligated to keep their contact details and information up to date and diligently share it with others who are responsible for fire safety (and if needed, with the people living in the building);
• If there are other people who are in charge of fire safety matters in the building, the Responsible Person should try to meet them;
• When the person in charge of fire safety changes, the new appointed person should receive all the important fire safety information;
• If the building has more than one home in it, the Responsible Person should give to the occupier easy-to-understand information about how to stay safe from fires;
• There will be bigger fines introduced for certain offences, for example failing to comply with specific requirements imposed by a fire inspector;
• It is expected that the UK government’s advice on these rules will be much clearer and stronger.

Furthermore, it is anticipated that in the future, there will be a rule that the person hired to do or check the fire safety assessment must be competent and fully qualified.

For further guidance on Fire safety responsibilities under Section 156 of the Building Safety Act 2022 click here.

If you need any further information or legal advice, including conveyancing of a property in England & Wales please feel free to contact our UKRE team: Anna Douglass, Alastair Hargreaves, Caren Vidamour and Naledi Odiseng, who will be happy to assist.