Part 8 – Amendments of Part 5 of the Building Safety Act 2022 Section 114: Steps relating to remediation of defects
The 2022 Act made clear that a relevant landlord is responsible for the safety and upkeep of a building. There have been instances where relevant landlords are unsure about whether to take responsibility for relevant steps needed to make their buildings safe during or as part of remediation such as the installation of fire sprinklers, waking watches and simultaneous evacuation alarms.
	Section 114 amends Section 120 and Schedule 8 of the 2022 Act, to place beyond doubt in law that relevant steps fall within a relevant landlord’s responsibility. The amendment clarifies that the cost/ delivery of relevant steps can be included in orders made under Sections 123 (remediation orders) and 124 (remediation contribution order). The relevant landlord is responsible for remedying (or, where applicable, taking mitigating steps in relation to) relevant defects in a building. A developer or previous landlord can be required to contribute to the costs of remedying (or, where applicable, taking mitigating steps in relation to) relevant defects. Costs will be recoverable, both retrospectively and prospectively, under remediation contribution orders.
	Subsection (4A) introduces a definition of ‘relevant steps’. These are essentially preventative or mitigating steps that can be taken to reduce the risk and/or severity of any incident resulting from a relevant defect.
	Schedule 8 is amended to omit the definitions of "building safety risk" and "relevant risk" and substitute the definition of "relevant measure" to include reference to "relevant steps" as defined in Section 120.