214.Section 40 places a duty on the principal accountable person for an occupied category 1 building, to prepare and act in accordance with, a residents’ engagement strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to promote the participation of relevant persons, i.e. adult residents and owners of a residential unit (e.g. flat owners), in the making of building safety decisions in relation to the building.
215.A “building safety decision” means a decision by an accountable person about the management of the building made in connection with the performance of their duties under the Act.
216.An example of a building safety decision could be if a fire risk assessment identifies a fire risk connected to the external cladding of the building, the principal accountable person would be required, under section 33 (management of fire safety risks), to take all reasonable steps to prevent a fire safety risk materialising and reduce the severity of any incident resulting from such a risk materialising. This might involve replacing the external cladding with an alternative material, for example. The principal accountable person would in that scenario, be required to promote the participation of relevant persons in the making of any building safety decisions around replacing the external cladding. This could include the timescales of the works, the times of day in which the work would be undertaken, how disruption to residents’ lives could be minimised and which contractors and materials should be used on the project.
217.Subsection (4) requires the strategy to contain:
	the information that will be provided to relevant persons about building safety decisions,
	the aspects of those decisions that the relevant persons will be consulted about,
	the arrangements for seeking the views of relevant persons, and
	details of how the appropriateness of the methods used for promoting participation will be measured and reviewed.
218.Subsection (5) provides that the residents’ engagement strategy must be prepared as soon as possible after the latest of the events set out in that subsection.
219.Subsection (6) places a duty on the principal accountable person, when preparing the residents’ engagement strategy, to consult relevant persons and any other persons specified in regulations, about the proposed contents of the strategy, and to take into account any representations made in response to the consultation.
220.Subsection (7) requires the principal accountable person to review the residents’ engagement strategy at times specified in regulations and revise it if necessary.
221.Subsection (8) provides that the principal accountable person must, in the circumstances specified in regulations, consult relevant persons and any other persons specified in regulations about proposed revisions to the strategy. Subsection (8) also provides that the principal accountable person must take any representations made in response to that consultation into account.
222.Subsections (9) and (10) provide that the Welsh Ministers may make regulations about the preparation, review or revision of the residents’ engagement strategy for a building where there is more than one accountable person for the building, and about the carrying out of consultations under section 39 or regulations made under it.
Commentary on Sections Part 1 - Safety of Buildings Containing Two Or More Residential Units Residents’ engagement strategies Section 40 - Preparation and review of residents’ engagement strategy by principal accountable person