Written by the Brady Solicitors Litigation Team. Brady Solicitors advises managing agents, freeholders, RMC Directors and RTM companies on Building Safety Act compliance, service charge disputes and property litigation.
A Regulator That Now Stands on its Own
If you manage a higher-risk building or advise clients who do, it is important to know that the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) is no longer a division of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Since 27 January 2026, it has operated as a standalone executive non-departmental public body, established under The Building Safety Regulator (Establishment of New Body and Transfer of Functions etc.)
The practical effect of this separation is still working through. Transitional arrangements between the BSR and the HSE remain in place until 31 December 2026, so correspondence, portals, and processes you are familiar with may continue to run through HSE infrastructure during that period. From 2027, the BSR will operate entirely independently.
The BSR was created by Part 2 of the Building Safety Act 2022, established in direct response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Its full statutory powers sit in the BSA 2022. Understanding exactly what those powers cover, and what they do not, is one of the more consistently misunderstood areas we encounter when advising clients on building safety obligations.
Which Buildings Does the BSR Actually Regulate?
The BSR does not regulate all buildings. It does not apply to every building with a fire safety defect. It does not cover every residential building simply because leaseholders have safety concerns. Its remit is specific and defined.
Under section 65 of the Building Safety Act 2022, the BSR’s occupied building regime covers ‘higher-risk buildings’ in England that are at least 18 metres in height or have at least 7 storeys, and contain at least 2 residential units.
That height and storey threshold matters enormously. If a building does not meet it, the BSR’s occupied building regime does not apply, however serious the safety concerns may otherwise be. Other bodies remain relevant for buildings below the threshold: local authority building control, the Fire and Rescue Service, and the courts. That is a different regulatory framework with different obligations.
It is worth separating this from the remediation and leaseholder protection framework, which applies to ‘relevant buildings’ at 11 metres or more (or 5 or more storeys) under Part 5 of the BSA 2022. The building safety defect and cost recovery regime covers a wider group of buildings. The BSR’s direct regulatory oversight does not. These two things get mixed regularly, including by leaseholders who assume that any defect in any building is automatically something the BSR will deal with.
How the BSR Controls New higher-Risk Buildings: The Gateway Regime
For new higher-risk buildings or higher-risk buildings undergoing major construction works, the BSR acts as the building control authority. This replaced the previous system under which developers could appoint their own building control body, including a private approved inspector.
The gateway regime runs in three stages. Gateway 1 operates at the planning application stage: before planning permission can be granted, a fire statement must be submitted and the BSR is a statutory consultee.
Gateway 2 is the substantive approval before construction work begins: detailed fire and structural safety plans must be submitted to the BSR, and work cannot lawfully start until BSR approval has been granted. This is a fundamental change from the previous process; construction cannot simply proceed while applications are being considered. Gateway 3 operates before occupation: the developer must apply to the BSR for a completion certificate, demonstrating the building has been constructed in accordance with the approved design.
For any developer or professional adviser involved in a residential scheme at 18 metres or above, the BSR, not the local authority, is the relevant building control authority, and the timeline implications of the gateway process are significant. Gateway 2 approvals can take considerably longer than conventional building control applications.
What the BSR Requires if you Manage an Occupied Higher-Risk Building
If you are the principal accountable person (PAP) for an occupied higher-risk building, your obligations under the BSA 2022 are substantial and carry real enforcement consequences.
Registration
All existing occupied higher-risk buildings had to be registered with the BSR by 30 September 2023; from 1 October 2023 it became a criminal offence to occupy an unregistered higher-risk building. That deadline has passed. If a building in scope is not registered, the building owner and PAP are already in criminal breach.
Ongoing Duties for Principle Accountable Persons (PAP)
Once registered, the PAP must maintain ongoing compliance across several duties:
Safety Case Reports: The PAP must prepare a safety case demonstrating that structural and fire risks are being identified and managed. This is not a document you produce once and file away. It must be kept current and must genuinely reflect conditions in the building.
Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR): Certain structural or fire safety events must be reported to the BSR. This includes incidents indicating a building safety risk has materialised or could materialise.
Resident Engagement Strategy: The PAP must have a documented strategy for involving residents in safety matters and must act on residents’ concerns where they relate to structural or fire safety.
Key Building Information: A register of key building information must be maintained and made available to the BSR and residents on request.
The BSR maintains a public register of higher-risk buildings, so it is possible for any interested party, including leaseholders, to check whether a building has been registered and who the accountable persons are. Failure to register, or to comply with ongoing duties, is a criminal offence.
Building Assessment Certificates: When the BSR calls
One of the BSR’s most significant powers is directing a PAP to apply for a Building Assessment Certificate (BAC). The BSR is working through its register of occupied higher-risk buildings and calling them in for assessment in priority order, based on its view of risk.
Once directed, a PAP has 28 days to submit an application (section 79 BSA 2022). That window is tight given what the application requires: a current safety case report, mandatory occurrence reporting history, evidence of the resident engagement strategy, and demonstration of compliance across all building safety duties. Buildings that have not been keeping on top of these obligations will find 28 days very little time to prepare.
The BAC process is how the BSR is testing in practice whether occupied higher-risk buildings are being managed to the standard the legislation requires. The approach we take when advising on BSR matters is consistent with what we see across the BSA more broadly: this is front-loaded work. Getting to grips with a building’s compliance position (what is in place, what is not, and what needs to be done before the 28-day clock starts) requires time and careful analysis before a clear course of action can be determined. Waiting until the BSR direction arrives is not the right moment to start that process.
The BSR’s Wider Role: Overseeing All Building Control
Beyond its direct powers over higher-risk buildings, the Building Safety Regulator supervises the entire building control profession in England. It oversees local authority building control departments and private building control bodies, sets the competence standards that all registered building control approvers and inspectors must meet, and maintains the register of registered building control professionals.
This matters beyond the 18-metre threshold. Any building undergoing work requiring building control approval will be affected by the competence framework the BSR maintains across the sector. It also means that the quality of building control decisions, which directly affects what can later be established as a relevant defect in Part 5 proceedings, now sits within a more actively supervised profession than existed before the BSA 2022.
If the BSR Contacts You
BSR correspondence is not routine property management correspondence. Criminal liability for non-compliance is real, and it sits with the individuals responsible, not just the corporate entity. The BSR has a range of enforcement powers: compliance notices, stop notices, prosecutions, and in serious cases the ability to apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Special Measures Order, under which a Special Measures Manager takes over the accountable person’s building safety functions at the accountable person’s cost (section 102 and Schedule 7 BSA 2022).
Most managing agents we work with are alert to the broad obligations under the BSA. But knowing that the obligations exist and knowing exactly how they apply to a specific building, with its specific history and management structure, are different things. The BSA is not a piece of legislation where general awareness translates easily into specific advice. Every building is different: the height, the age, the cladding system, the lease structure, the management arrangements. The right approach to BSR compliance reflects those differences.
If you have received correspondence from the BSR, or if you are advising a client managing a higher-risk building and want to understand their compliance position before the BSR asks, get in touch with our Property Litigation team.
