The new Building Safety Act regime: who is the ‘Accountable Person’ and what must it do?

Introduction

The BSA creates several new duty holder roles in respect of the fire and structural safety within higher-risk buildings (HRBs) (as defined in the BSA) throughout the design, build and occupation of such HRBs.

The sole duty holder role in respect of occupied HRBs is the “Accountable Person”. An Accountable Person will  essentially be any entity with ultimate responsibility for repairing any of the common parts of any occupied HRB. 

Accountable Persons will have a set of statutory obligations they must comply with, aimed at ensuring that the fire and structural risks associated with any HRB are appropriately controlled and managed. 

Who will be the Accountable Person?

The term is defined in Section 72 of the BSA and is, in practical terms, any landlord or freeholder in charge of repairing either part or all of the common parts of any HRB. It will be possible for a management company that does not hold any legal estate in a HRB but has repairing responsibilities to also be an Accountable Person.

The BSA recognises that there will be situations in which more than one Accountable Person exists in respect of a HRB. In such situations, each individual Accountable Person is responsible for the part of the relevant building in which they have an interest. However, it was also recognised that in such situations it will be necessary for one Accountable Person to be nominated as the “Principal Accountable Person” to ensure there is a clear allocation of primary responsibility for the overall compliance of the HRB and liaison with the Building Safety Regulator.

What are the duties and responsibilities of the Accountable Person?

The Accountable Person is required to assess all building and safety risks in an occupied HRB and take all reasonable steps to prevent such risks materialising and to minimise their impact if the risks do in fact occur. 

A building safety risk is defined as “a risk to the safety of people in or about a building arising from the spread of fire, structural failure or any other prescribed matter”. As such, the Accountable Person is effectively responsible for ensuring that the building can be safely occupied based on its particular characteristics. 

More specifically, the Accountable Person has the following responsibilities:

• Register the HRBs and apply for a building assessment certificate;
• Conduct an assessment of fire and structural safety risks and keep under review;
• Prepare the safety case report;
• Comply with mandatory occurrence reporting requirements;
• Prepare a Resident’s Engagement Strategy and keep under review; and
• Keep and update prescribed information about the buildings.

The government factsheet published to support the commencement of the BSA states that the new regime “will be flexible and enable Accountable Persons to meet their obligations in a way that is most effective for their building and residents”. As such, Accountable Person(s) will need to analyse the magnitude of risk presented by the unique characteristics of the building in question and identify whether the management system in place is appropriate in light of the specific risks posed. 

Focus: two key responsibilities of the Accountable Person

1. The safety case report

The safety case report is intended to ensure that the Principal Accountable Person devises and delivers a dynamic, proactive approach to managing building safety risks. Creating a safety case report will initially require an identification of all building safety risks followed by an explanation as to how those risks will be controlled and mitigated to a reasonable level.

2. Mandatory occurrence reporting

The Principal Accountable Person will be required to develop a reporting system that enables those on site to report safety occurrences, with ultimately a report then being made to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR). Secondary legislation will be relied upon to define “safety occurrence” and to set out the detail of how the mandatory occurrence reporting systems will work but it is seen by the government as a critical part of the new building safety regime. We anticipate that the new reporting system will work in a similar way to RIDDOR reporting. 

When will the new duties come into force?

The duties being placed upon Accountable Person(s) are timetabled to be introduced within 12 to 18 months following the BSA coming into law. As such, this should be by the end of 2023. 

Once in force, the BSR will be able to either serve a compliance notice or, in more extreme situations, charge an Accountable Person with the offence of giving rise to risk of death and serious injury where breaches of its obligations are identified.

How can we help you?

In light of the myriad of duties and responsibilities that will be placed on the Accountable Person(s), the novel concepts involved and the enforcement powers given to the BSR, it is imperative that freeholders, landlords and management companies obtain advice in respect of what they must do to comply with their obligations and how they can implement systems and procedures to manage the transition effectively.

We can help you identify legal compliance issues and take steps to ensure your organisation is prepared to meet the challenges posed by the BSA.

Keeping on top of developments

The government has launched a number of consultations and campaigns that concern the wider regulatory framework. If you are interested in finding out more about the horizon scanning services we offer, please click here.