What legal advice has the the Counsel General given to the Minister for Climate Change regarding the legal protections for tenants living in high-rise buildings in Wales in comparison to tenants living in high rise buildings in England?
The Minister for Climate Change has considered and continues to consider, legal protections for tenants. However, our approach in Wales is to work in collaboration with developers to rectify fire safety defects in medium and high-rise buildings.
The Minister for Climate Change is developing a programme of work to draft the secondary legislation and guidance required to implement the provisions of the Building Safety Act as they apply to Wales. These will be subject to consultation.
The new powers under the UK Building Safety Act 2022 in relation to remediation and contribution orders only apply in England. The Building Safety Act 2022 does however include a number of provisions intended to add further protection for leaseholders in Wales including the extension of the Defective Premises Act 1972 time periods and provision to deal with the lack of redress available where a development company no longer exists.
The Minister for Climate Change is also looking to bring about changes to the building control system via the development of secondary legislation. This will include consultation with stakeholders and the public on the key matters.