The Building Safety Bill completed its House of Commons stages on 19th of January 2022 and has now entered the House of Lords, where it’s scheduled for the second reading in the House of Lords on February 2nd. This means the Bill is taking a major step towards the Royal Assent.
The House of Lords is the second chamber of the Parliament, it has the role to scrutinise Bills that that have been approved by the House of Commons. The House of Lords is unable to prevent Bills passing into law but regularly reviews and amends bill. The same House can also delay and in rare certain limited circumstances can delay Bills and force the Commons to reconsider their decisions. However, as the Bill has already moved into a second reading it can be assumed that the Building Safety Bill will continue its journey towards the Royal Assent at a steady pace.
There are still some questions that need to be addressed before the Bill will become a law. One of these are the question of who will fund the reparation and improvements of safety measures in already occupied buildings. The Local Government Association (LGA) for example highlights the implications of costs for leaseholders. The LGA states that “No leaseholder should have to pay the costs of making their homes safe and the Secretary of State’s threat to use the legal system to ensure developers meet their responsibilities to leaseholders and the subsequent amendments relating to protections for leaseholders are a positive step in the right direction”[1]. These are one of the issues that will have to be attended before the bill moves on to its final stages.
We will continue to monitor the Bill’s progress in Parliament.
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[1] Local Government Association, “Building Safety Bill, Second Reading, House of Lords, 2 February 2022”, https://www.local.gov.uk/parliament/briefings-and-responses/building-safety-bill-second-reading-house-lords-2-february-2022
