Inside Housing are reporting that the Building Safety Regulator is changing its approach to building assessment certificates after two-thirds of applications have been refused.
Inside Housing reports that the BSR plans to introduce a more “proportionate and targeted” approach for building assessment certificates (BACs) and provide greater support for duty holders “while maintaining high standards of building safety”.
This includes clearer guidance being published and offering duty volunteer-run resident management companies pre-application support.
On top of the rate of refusals, assessment processing times are twice as long as initially expected.
Refusals often occur because applications focus on compliance rather than “effective management of safety”, the BSR said.
The BSR warned that obtaining a certificate or approval is “not the end goal” and that all principal accountable persons (PAPs) and accountable persons (APs) must “proactively prevent and mitigate the spread of fire and structural failure”.
Read the full article on Inside Housing here:Inside Housing article
The BSR plans to:
- provide proportionate, fast-tracked assessments for previously refused certificates
- provide better and targeted support to resident-managed buildings, including more time to prepare evidence and support during the application process
- published improved and clearer guidance due out in September