Part 5: Other provisions about safety standards, etc. Remediation of Certain defects Section 116 – Remediation of certain defects Background
Sections 116 to 125 and Schedule 8 make provision about the remediation of certain defects in certain buildings. They are collectively referred to as the "leaseholder protections", as they protect leaseholders in multi-occupied residential buildings from certain costs associated with remediating historical building safety defects.
	Most multi-occupied residential buildings in England, such as blocks of flats, are owned by a freeholder, with the individual flats owned on long leases. A leasehold property is owned by the leaseholder for the length of the lease agreement with the freeholder, after which point the ownership of the property returns to the freeholder. The freeholder typically owns the land on which the building is built, as well as the structure and common parts of the building (such as the staircases and hallways). Leases of over 21 years are generally known as long leases and it is not uncommon for 999-year leases to be granted. Leaseholders have certain rights to extend the length of their lease if they wish to do so.
	The ownership structures of multi-occupied residential buildings can be complex with multiple additional landlords who own the building or parts of it, separate to the freeholder of the land on which the building sits. In the most straightforward cases, there will be a freeholder who owns the land and the building itself, and leaseholders who own the long leases of dwellings contained within the building; this explanatory note uses that straightforward case for illustrative purposes.
	It is the freeholder’s responsibility to ensure the safety of the building and the upkeep of the structure and common parts, and the costs associated with these responsibilities can normally be charged to leaseholders through the service charge, as per the terms of the lease. The service charge will commonly cover the costs associated with routine maintenance and repairs.
	Since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, it has become apparent that a number of residential blocks of flats have serious historical fire safety defects, often, but not always, associated with their original construction. Most notably this has included the use of unsafe cladding on the external walls of these buildings. Due to the risk to life posed by these defects, extensive and often costly remediation work to make buildings safe can be needed.
	The terms of most leases, which are contractual agreements between the leaseholder and freeholder, will allow the costs associated with this remediation work to be passed on to individual leaseholders through the service charge. The costs per lease to remediate historical building safety defects have sometimes been very high and frequently run into the tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. These costs have put strain on leaseholders who are often unable to meet these costs.
	The Government has brought forward a series of interventions to protect leaseholders from the costs associated with remediating historical building safety defects, including direct grant funding for the costs of remediating unsafe cladding on certain buildings, and agreeing with developers that they will fix buildings they have had a role in developing or refurbishing. This Act also contains a number of provisions to allow those directly responsible for creating building safety defects to be held accountable through the Courts.
	The leaseholder protections measures further protect certain leaseholders in law by preventing altogether, or otherwise limiting, the costs that can be passed through the service charge to the leaseholder in respect of certain historical building safety defects.