Building Safety Update: Government Consultation on the new “in-occupation” regime - what is the consultation asking?

As my colleague Lauren Michaelides outlined in her recent blog, the government has opened a consultation on the new in-occupation regime.  The consultation is open until 12 October 2022 and seeks views on the following areas:

• Building Assessment Certificate: It is proposed that the principal accountable person for all registered higher-risk buildings will be required to apply for a Building Assessment Certificate, which will only be issued if the Building Safety Regulator is satisfied that the accountable person(s) for the building are complying with their duties under the Building Safety Act.
• Accountable person(s) and the principal accountable person: For higher-risk buildings where there is more than one accountable person, it is proposed that the Building Safety Act will assign responsibility for different duties and different parts of the building based on the connection each accountable person has with the building.
• Mandatory occurrence reporting: This is a requirement for certain significant fire and structural safety issues to be reported to the Building Safety Regulator.  It is proposed that this requirement would be placed on accountable persons and the principal accountable person.  The consultation seeks views on:
  • the structure of the reporting system;
  • the circumstances requiring mandatory reporting; and
  • the information to be included in any report.
• Golden thread contents: The consultation is seeking input on the type and extent of documentation that should be required to be held as ‘golden thread’ documentation and lists several categories of documentation that could be required.
• Managing and storing the golden thread: The consultation seeks views on how the golden thread information should be managed and stored, including:
  • which information needs to be continually updated and which information only needs to show a ‘snapshot’ in time;
  • how data should be transferred when necessary;
  • how data should be secured; and
  • ways of ensuring accessibility of the data.
• Duties on the accountable person and the principal accountable person to share information: The consultation sets out is proposals for how information should be shared with different categories of people, including between accountable persons, with residents and with landlords.