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My Lords, the remediation of residential buildings with unsafe cladding in England is a priority for this Government. Nine years on from the Grenfell tragedy, there is no justification for any building to remain unsafe. Helping residents to feel safe in their homes and move on from this issue is crucial work.
The Government are committing £5.2 billion of taxpayers’ money to the cost of remediation and the building safety levy is an essential part of the remediation funding package, which will protect leaseholders from costs and ensure that taxpayers are not further burdened. We estimate that the levy needs to raise £3.4 billion, likely over a 10-year period. The revenue target may be adjusted in accordance with the number of buildings requiring remediation and the costs of works.
The levy regulations were made in November 2025 and will come into force on 1 October 2026. The draft amending regulations before the Committee today clarify how the levy will work and are intended to come into force on 1 October. The levy will be charged on certain building control applications for new residential floor space in England. It is important to note that developers have known about the levy since February 2021 and its rates since March 2025, providing a significant lead-in period to plan for and incorporate these costs into their projects. It will start being charged on new applications from 1 October 2026.
The 2025 regulations allow for development on previously developed land, often referred to as brownfield land, to benefit from a 50% discount levy rate. This recognises the higher costs of building on this type of land and therefore protects the viability of development on these brownfield sites. My officials received feedback that the definition of previously developed land was not clear. In particular, stakeholders noted that it was not clear whether car parks and other areas of hard standing that would appear previously developed would actually qualify for the discount. Our intention has always been to support development of sites having these kinds of features, so these regulations amend the definition to make it clear where areas of hard standing can qualify. This will better reflect the original policy intention and, hopefully, make it easier for local authorities and developers to understand which sites qualify for the discount, reducing costly and time-consuming disputes. These regulations and the updated guidance provide more information about how this change works.
We also have a small number of minor technical amendments and corrections included in the instrument, including setting clearer time periods for spot checks, clarifying levy information requirements, amending how levy update notices are constituted and clarifying processes for revised levy determinations, refunds, reviews and appeals. We will keep the rates and processes under review and we will report at least every three years. I beg to move.
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My Lords, first, I wish to welcome the noble Baroness, Lady Blake of Leeds, to her new role. I look forward to working with her; I am sure that we will agree on some occasions, maybe more than most. Let me say right from the beginning that we Liberal Democrats accept the technical changes in this SI, because in effect that is what they are. The amendments are sensible, practical and entirely necessary to prevent any chaos following the levy’s coming into force in October.
The positive changes to which the noble Baroness, Lady Blake, has referred are important to remove the loophole of previously developed land. Developers are very good at finding loopholes, so that is important. The spot check and having a strict notification period are also important, as well as separating purpose-built student accommodation from being classed alongside residential. That is positive and we support it.
The Government have set a target of raising £3.4 billion, which is good. However, they are planning to raise this over 10 years. In the first year, the levy raises zero. In the second year, it raises—these are estimates I found from, I think, the Office for Budget Responsibility—just £55 million. By the fifth year, so in 2030-31, it will raise £395 million a year, so over the first five years it will raise just £1 billion of the £3.4 billion that it is estimated to raise. I guess there will be reasons for that, but it is unlikely to raise significant sums in the first couple of years.
Once you have in mind that that is how the funding is going to be and that it will be five years before anything significant comes into the coffers to support remediation, you say to yourself that the Grenfell Tower tragedy was nearly 10 years ago and the Government are still having to find ways of raising sufficient funds to pay for remediation on top of the £5.1 billion, I think, that they have put aside. About 50 major developers have signed up to a scheme to fund it. The Minister has just said that there is no justification for buildings to remain unsafe, but 46% of buildings have not even had work started on them.
Although the levy is important, and I accept the positive changes that are being made, the lack of urgency in all this is worrying, especially if you live as a leaseholder in one of those blighted apartments. I say “blighted” because, if you are a leaseholder waiting for flammable cladding to be removed or safety defects to be remedied, you are stuck in that flat because you cannot sell or remortgage. You are stuck. That is 10 long years, more so when this levy is coming to light.