Building Safety Act Compliance: What UK Managing Agents Must Know

Since the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, fire safety compliance in UK residential blocks has undergone its most significant transformation in a generation. The Building Safety Act 2022, now substantially in force, has introduced a new regulatory architecture that places unprecedented legal responsibility on those who manage and own high-risk buildings. For managing agents, understanding and implementing these obligations is no longer optional best practice — it is a statutory requirement with criminal liability attached to failure.

The New Regulatory Landscape

The Building Safety Act 2022 established the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), operating within the Health and Safety Executive, to oversee the safety of "higher-risk buildings" — broadly defined as residential structures of 18 metres or seven storeys and above, containing two or more residential units. These buildings now require registration with the BSR, and from the design and construction phase through to occupation, a golden thread of building information must be maintained and kept accessible.

Crucially, the Act introduces the role of the Principal Accountable Person (PAP) and, where applicable, Accountable Persons, who carry personal legal responsibility for managing building safety risks. For many managing agents, this means either stepping into this role directly or supporting freeholders and RMCs who do, with clear documentation trails to evidence compliance.

Key Duties Under the Act

Managing agents working with higher-risk buildings should be acutely aware of the following obligations:

• Safety case reports — a living document that assesses and evidences how fire and structural safety risks are being managed, requiring regular review rather than a one-off exercise.
• Mandatory occurrence reporting — any safety occurrence that presents a significant risk must be reported to the BSR without delay.
• Resident engagement strategy — under the Act, Accountable Persons must consult residents on safety matters and provide them with relevant building safety information, a requirement that dovetails with the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022.
• Golden thread of information — digital record-keeping covering design, construction, and ongoing changes to the building, which must be accurate, up to date, and readily retrievable.

Alongside the Building Safety Act, the Fire Safety Act 2021 clarified that the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 extends explicitly to external walls, cladding, and flat entrance doors — closing a legal ambiguity that had previously left many agents uncertain about the scope of their Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs).

Where Managing Agents Are Falling Short

Industry commentary, including analysis from Arthur Online and MRI Software, has repeatedly flagged that many agents are still managing fire safety compliance through spreadsheets, email trails, and paper files — an approach wholly unsuited to the evidentiary demands of the new regime. When the BSR or a tribunal requests evidence of a golden thread, agents relying on fragmented systems struggle to produce a coherent, timestamped audit trail.

Common failings observed across the sector include:

• FRAs that are completed but whose remedial actions are never tracked to closure
• No clear record of when residents were last consulted or informed of safety information
• Accountable Person responsibilities that are assumed informally, without documented delegation
• Fragmented contractor records making it difficult to demonstrate competent persons carried out safety-critical works

Fire risk assessments are only as good as the action plans that follow them. A document in a filing cabinet does not keep residents safe — closed-out remedial works do.

Building a Defensible Compliance Process

Agents should treat Building Safety Act compliance as a continuous operational discipline rather than a periodic tick-box exercise. Practical steps include:

• Centralise documentation — FRAs, EWS1 forms, gas and electrical certificates, and maintenance records should sit in one accessible, auditable system rather than scattered across inboxes.
• Automate reminders — statutory inspection and testing intervals (fire doors, emergency lighting, dry risers) should trigger automatic alerts well before deadlines lapse.
• Evidence resident communication — every notice, consultation, and safety update should be logged with delivery and read confirmation where possible.
• Assign clear ownership — each remedial action from an FRA should have a named responsible party and a tracked deadline, visible to directors and leaseholders alike.
• Prepare for RICS and RICS Code compliance — the RICS Service Charge Residential Management Code (third edition) increasingly intersects with safety-related service charge recovery, so transparent cost evidencing matters.

This is precisely where modern property management platforms are proving their worth. WiseBlock, for example, enables managing agents to maintain a single, structured digital record of compliance documents, certificates, and remedial actions — creating exactly the kind of golden thread evidence the BSR expects, while giving directors and leaseholders visibility without constant email chasing.

Looking Ahead: Enforcement Is Accelerating

The BSR has signalled that its enforcement posture will intensify as the transitional period for existing higher-risk buildings concludes. Criminal sanctions under the Act include unlimited fines and imprisonment for the most serious breaches, and company directors can face personal liability where corporate structures fail to disguise individual responsibility. The Grenfell Inquiry's final report has added further political pressure for robust enforcement, with government ministers committing to faster implementation timelines.

For managing agents, the message is unambiguous: fire safety compliance under the Building Safety Act demands systemised, evidenced, and continuously reviewed processes. Those still relying on manual tracking should treat this as an urgent operational risk, not a future project. Investing in proper compliance infrastructure now — whether through dedicated building safety software or integrated platforms like WiseBlock — is far cheaper than the reputational and legal cost of falling foul of the regulator later.