Building Safety Act 2022 for Leaseholders: What the Schedule 8 Protections Mean

Why the Act exists

After the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 it became clear that thousands of UK buildings had unsafe cladding and other fire safety defects, and that under the standard leasehold model the cost of remediation would fall on individual leaseholders. Some leaseholders faced bills of £100,000 or more, and many could not sell, remortgage, or insure their flats while the situation remained unresolved.

The Building Safety Act 2022 was passed in part to address this. It created a new regulatory framework for high-rise residential buildings (the Building Safety Regulator) and introduced specific protections for "qualifying leaseholders" against having to pay for the cost of remediating "relevant defects" in their building. These protections are in Schedule 8 of the Act.

What buildings are covered

The leaseholder protections apply to "relevant buildings", which means a building that:

1. Is at least 11 metres tall, OR has at least 5 storeys

2. Contains at least 2 dwellings

This is broader than the EWS1 threshold. A 4 storey block without cladding above 11 metres is still in scope if it has a "relevant defect".

What defects are covered

A "relevant defect" is one that:

• Was caused by works completed (or commissioned) at any time during the 30 years before 28 June 2022
• Causes a building safety risk relating to the spread of fire or the collapse of all or part of the building
• Arises from the design, construction, refurbishment, or maintenance of the building

This covers cladding, insulation, fire breaks, balconies, fire doors, and most external wall fire safety issues. It does not cover all defects, just those that create a building safety risk relating to fire spread or collapse.

Who is a qualifying leaseholder

To benefit from the protections, you must be a qualifying leaseholder, which means:

1. The lease was granted before 14 February 2022

2. The lease is for a term of at least 21 years

3. On 14 February 2022, the property was your principal home, OR you owned no more than 3 UK dwellings in total (including this one)

The principal home test is met if you actually live in the flat. The 3 dwelling test catches small landlords. Larger portfolio landlords are not qualifying leaseholders and do not get the same protections.

What protection you get

For qualifying leaseholders in a relevant building, the protections are:

1. No cost for cladding remediation: you cannot be required to pay any service charge for the cost of removing or replacing cladding that is a relevant defect

2. Capped cost for non-cladding defects: for non-cladding fire safety defects, your contribution is capped. The cap is £15,000 in Greater London and £10,000 elsewhere, paid in instalments over 10 years. If your flat is worth less than £325,000, the cap is £0 (no contribution).

3. No cost if the developer is liable: if the developer or freeholder is wealthy enough to pay (the "wealthy landlord" test), they pay and you pay nothing.

4. No cost if a developer pledge applies: many large UK developers signed a pledge to remediate buildings they built. Where the pledge applies, leaseholders pay nothing.

How to claim protection

The protections are automatic in the sense that the freeholder or building owner cannot lawfully demand contribution above the caps. But in practice you need to confirm your status:

1. Provide a Leaseholder Deed of Certificate confirming you are a qualifying leaseholder. A solicitor can prepare this.

2. The building owner should provide a Landlord Certificate confirming who is responsible for the cost.

3. If your service charge demand exceeds the cap, refuse to pay and challenge the demand at the First-tier Tribunal if necessary.

What if the building is below 11 metres

The Schedule 8 protections do not apply to buildings under 11 metres. Government guidance is that low-rise buildings rarely need cladding remediation, and where they do, alternative remediation routes (developer pledges, the Cladding Safety Scheme, local authority funding) may be available. Speak to a specialist solicitor for advice on lower-rise buildings.

What this means when buying

If you are buying a flat in a tall building (11 metres or 5 storeys or more):

1. Confirm the leasehold status on Property Passport UK at [/search](/search), where tenure is sourced from HM Land Registry

2. Ask your conveyancer to obtain a Landlord Certificate from the freeholder

3. Obtain (or check the existence of) an EWS1 form

4. Confirm whether the building has any pending or planned remediation works

5. If you are a buyer, you will become a qualifying leaseholder on completion if the property becomes your main home, so the protections will follow you. If you are a buy-to-let investor, you will not qualify if you already own more than 3 UK dwellings.

Check the property on Property Passport UK before you buy

Property Passport UK aggregates verified data on every one of the 19.35 million properties in England and Wales, including listed building status, conservation area, EPC, flood risk, and HM Land Registry tenure. Search any address at [/search](/search) before you make an offer or commission a survey. Construction-related risks often flag through one of these data points before they show up in the building survey itself.

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