Part 4: Higher-risk buildings Registration and certificates Section 77: Occupation: registration requirement Effect
The Principal Accountable Person, as defined in section 73, must ensure that the higher-risk building is registered before it becomes occupied and commits an offence if they fail to do so. Subsection (2) sets out that is a defence for a Principal Accountable Person charged with an offence under this section to prove that they had a reasonable excuse for failing to register the building.
	Subsection (3) sets out the maximum penalty for the criminal offence of breaching the registration requirement. The offence will be triable either way; the broad range of sentencing outcomes gives the courts options to address the different degrees of culpability possible with a strict liability offence. If tried by magistrates, the offence will carry a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine and/or 12 months’ imprisonment (six months until the commencement of paragraph 24(2) of Schedule 22 of the Sentencing Act 2020). If tried in the Crown court, the maximum penalty will be an unlimited fine and/or two years’ imprisonment. Any fine placed on the Principal Accountable Person for a breach of this requirement would not be recoverable from residents (i.e. through service charges), as set out in the implied terms.