Schedule 8: Remediation costs under qualifying leases Paragraph 1: Interpretation Effect
Paragraph 1(1) sets out key definitions that are relevant to Schedule 8.
	"Associated", "building safety risk", "joint venture", "qualifying lease", "the qualifying time", "relevant building", and "relevant defect" are defined in sections 117 to 121.
	There are a number of regulation-making powers in the Schedule; accordingly, "prescribed" means prescribed in regulations which the Secretary of State has the power to make.
	For the purposes of the Schedule, a "relevant measure" is defined, in relation to a relevant defect (to which see section 120). A "relevant measure" is one that is taken to remedy a defect, to prevent a risk from materialising, or to reduce the severity of an incident arising from the risk materialising.
	Sub-paragraph (1)(a) sets out that a relevant measure can be a measure that is taken to remedy, or fix, a relevant defect. This would include, for example, work to remove unsafe cladding from a building, to put right internal compartmentation issues, or to underpin defective foundations (provided those defects are relevant defects, meaning that the defects must give rise to a building safety risk, as defined in section 120). Services procured in connection with remedying a relevant defect, such as undertaking an external wall survey, or consultancy and project management fees, will also be relevant measures, as those measures are a necessary part of the work needed to remedy the relevant defect.
	Sub-paragraph (1)(b)(i) sets out that a relevant measure can alternatively be a measure that is taken to prevent a "relevant risk" from materialising, where a "relevant risk" is defined as a building safety risk that arises as a result of the relevant defect. For example, if the presence of unsafe cladding on a building gives rise to a fire safety risk, that fire safety risk would be defined as a "relevant risk". Any measure which is taken to prevent that fire safety risk from materialising would be a relevant measure. For example, if a "waking watch" fire warden patrol is put in place in the building to mitigate against the fire safety risk until such a time as the cladding can be removed, the waking watch would be classed as a relevant measure, because it has been put in place to mitigate against the fire safety risk caused by the unsafe cladding.
	Sub-paragraph (1)(b)(ii) sets out that a relevant measure can also be one that reduces the severity of an incident resulting from the relevant risk materialising. For example, in some circumstances full remediation of a building may not be necessary, and a less costly and more proportionate measure may be appropriate. In some circumstances, it may be possible to mitigate against the risk created by the presence of fire safety defects through the installation of, for example, a fire alarm or a sprinkler system (although this will depend on the facts as they pertain to the building in question; while mitigation will be appropriate in some circumstances, in others full remediation will be needed to secure the safety of the building). Although the fire alarm will not prevent the risk from materialising altogether (i.e., it will not stop a fire from spreading), it will reduce the severity of a fire as the fire alarm would aid successful evacuation of the building.
	"Service charge" has the same meaning as in section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. That definition applies in relation to residential leases only.
	Some parts of the Schedule also apply to service charges under leases of non-residential premises. As the definition of "service charge" under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 only relates to residential premises, paragraph 1(2) sets out that, for the purposes of Schedule 8, "service charge" in relation to non-residential premises has the same meaning as in relation to a residential premises. This means that, for the purposes of this Schedule, a service charge in relation to a non-residential lease is defined in the same way as under section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act.