Fire Safety Bill — After Clause 2 — Prohibition on Passing Remediation Costs on to Leaseholders and Tenants — 27 Apr 2021 at 15:15

The majority of MPs voted to allow the owners of buildings to pass on the costs of legally required fire safety improvements to leaseholders and tenants.

MPs were considering the Fire Safety Bill.^[1][2]

The purpose of the Bill was "to clarify that the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Fire Safety Order) applies to external walls (including cladding, balconies and windows) and individual flat entrance doors in multi-occupied residential buildings. The 2005 order consolidated fire safety legislation. The Bill also provided powers for ministers to change the definition of premises to which the order applies.^[2]

The motion supported by a majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That this House disagrees with Lords amendment 4J.

Amendment 4J^[3] stated:

• After Clause 2, insert the following new Clause—
• “Prohibition on passing remediation costs on to leaseholders and tenants pending operation of a statutory scheme
• (1) The owner of a building may not pass the costs of any remedial work attributable to the provisions of this Act on to leaseholders or tenants of that building.
• (2) This section has effect only until a statutory scheme is in operation which ensures that leaseholders and tenants of dwellings do not have to pay for remedial work attributable to the provisions of this Act.
• (3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to a leaseholder who is also the owner or part owner of the freehold of the building.”

The Clause, if it became part of the Bill, would surely amount to a "statutory scheme" itself.

A vote on a similar proposal had taken place the previous month.

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Fire Safety Bill, Parliament.uk
• [2] Explanatory notes to the Fire Safety Bill, Parliament.uk
• [3] Lords amendments to the Fire Safety Bill, 21 April 2021, Parliament.uk

Debate in Parliament |