Safety in high-rise residential buildings: accountable persons 

Accountable persons (APs) and the principal accountable person (PAP) manage the fire and structural safety risks of a high-rise residential building.

This guidance will help you understand these roles and their legal duties as set out in the Building Safety Act 2022. 

Accountable person

An accountableAP person is an organisation or individual who owns or has a legal obligation to repair any common parts of the building.

Common parts are used by residents, such as:

• the structure and exterior of the building
• corridors
• lobbies
• staircases

An accountableAP person can be a:

• freeholder or estate owner
• landlord
• management company
• resident management company
• right to manage company
• commonhold association

Principal accountable person

Each building must have one clearly identifiable accountable person, known as the principal accountable person.PAP.

In some circumstances, an individual can be the principalPAP. accountable person. For example, the individual is:

• the owner of the building
• named on the leasehold as responsible for the maintenance of common parts

Check who the principal accountable person is

If there is just one accountableAP person for a building, then they are the principal accountable person.PAP.

When there are multiple accountableAPs, persons, then whoever owns or has a legal obligation to repair the structure and exterior of the building is the principal accountable person.PAP.

AccountableAPs persons and the principalPAP accountable person can be accountable for the fire and structural safety risks of more than one building.

Who is accountable

AccountableAPs persons and the principalPAP accountable person cannot delegate their legal obligations to others.

Single point of contact

If the principalPAP accountable person is an organisation, then someone from the organisation can be the single point of contact for the Building Safety Regulator.

The single point of contact can also be a third party separate to the organisation, such as a management company. This individual should have authority or duties relating to the safety of the building, but this does not make them or the third party the principalPAP. accountable person. It is the organisation that is the principal accountable person.PAP.

The principalPAP accountable person must give written consent to the third party. If this consent stops, the principalPAP accountable person must update the single point of contact with the BSR.

Complex leaseholds

When a building is operated through a complex leasehold structure, the accountableAP person is any organisation or individual who is one of the following:

• owner of the building
• named on the lease as responsible for the repair or maintenance of any of the common parts 

This is known as being under a relevant repairing obligation.

Management companies and agents

Accountability remains with whoever owns the common parts, or has the legal obligation to repair or maintain them under a lease. A management company operating under a contract which requires it to carry out maintenance is not an accountableAP. person. A management company that operates under a lease that requires it to repair or maintain the common parts will be the accountableAP person for those partsparts.

Landlords

A landlord that rents or leases property and is legally responsible for maintaining the common parts of their building is an accountableAP, person, for example:

• local authority
• social housing
• private sector

Uncertainty or disputes about who is accountable

If there is uncertainty about who is an accountableAP person or principalPAP, accountable person an interested party can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a decision.

An interested party can be:

• an organisation or individual who owns, or claims to own, any part of the common parts
• a person or organisation who has, or claims to have, a repairing obligation for any part of the common parts
• the Building Safety Regulator

How accountable persons work with Responsible Persons (Fire Safety)

A Responsible Person is a role under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. In some buildings an accountableAP person or thePAP principal accountable person will also be the Responsible Person. Where this is not the case, building safety information must be shared across these roles and any information shared must meet data protection requirements

Legal duties

AccountableAPs persons are responsible for assessing and managing the risks posed to people in and about the building from structural failure or the spread of fire in the parts of the building they are responsible for.

To do this, accountableAPs persons must: 

• put measures in place to prevent building safety risks happening and reduce the severity of any incident that does happen
• report certain fire and structural safety issues or incidents
• engage with residents about the building’s safety and carry out duties relating to the resident engagement strategy
• keep, update and provide information about the building for the building’s safety case
• transfer building safety information to any incoming accountable personAP
• notify the Building Safety Regulator if there’s a change to an accountable personAP

Check the parts of the building you are responsible for

When there is only one accountableAP, person, they are responsible for managing the structural and fire safety risks in:

• the common parts  
• residential units
• commonhold units  
• balconies, including those attached to individual residential units
• any other part of the building that is not covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order)

Multiple accountable persons

When there are multiple accountableAPs, persons, each accountableAP person is responsible for managing the structural and fire safety risks in:

• the common parts they own, or must repair and maintain under a lease
• balconies, including those attached to the outside of the building that they own, or must repair and maintain
• any residential unit that can be let to a tenant, excluding lets on a long lease

If there are multiple accountableAPs persons for a building, they must work together and share safety information about the building.

Long leases

When a residential unit is let on a long lease, which is usually 21 years or more, the accountableAP person must:

• prevent risk in the unit that could impact common parts and other units
• protect the unit from risk in the parts of the building they are responsible for

For example, the accountableAP person must make sure that a fire cannot spread from a leasehold unit to the to the rest of the building. If a fire starts in a common part, the accountableAP person must make sure it will not spread into the unit.

If the landlord is not the accountableAP, person, they’re not accountable for the safety risks beyond the front doors. An accountableAP person for the common parts will need to manage these risks.

Register the building

The principalPAP accountable person must register the building with the Building Safety Regulator. As part of the registration process they must:

• submit structure and fire safety information about the building
• notify the Building Safety Regulator of any changes to the information submitted at registration

Manage the building’s structure and safety

The principalPAP accountable person must also make sure that the structural and fire safety risks are managed properly for the whole building.

The principalPAP accountable person must check that all accountableAPs persons for the building have:

• identified and assessed the fire and structural risks in their parts of the building
• taken steps to prevent incidents from happening
• put measures in place to lessen the severity of any incident

The principalPAP accountable person must manage the building’s safety by:

• putting together a safety case for the building and preparing a safety case report
• operating a reporting system to record building safety issues and incidents
• operating a complaints system to investigate concerns about the building’s safety risks or the performance of an accountable personAP
• displaying required information and documentation clearly within the building
• preparing and updating a resident engagement strategy so that residents and owners can participate in making building safety decisions
• applying for a building assessment certificate when directed by the Building Safety Regulator

The principalPAP accountable person must notify the Building Safety Regulator about changes to the building’s safety risks in the safety case report.

Insolvency

You must tell the Building Safety Regulator​​ if you’re insolvent or likely to become insolvent.

When an insolvency practitioner has been appointed, you must tell us:BSR:

• the name of the person or office-holder appointed to manage the proceedings
• their role, including where a housing administration order has been made
• ​their postal address and telephone number or email address
• ​​the company registration number if the accountableAP person is ​a company
• the HRB numbers for any buildings they are accountable for

You ​must also tell usBSR whether you have personally been declared bankrupt, whether your organisation is in administration, or your organisation is in liquidation. The insolvency practitioner should indicate the type of insolvency, for example bankruptcy, administration, liquidation or housing administration order.

Contact the Building Safety Regulator to give us this information about your insolvency.

BreachCompetence ofrequirements 

APs and PAPs must either have the relevant competence or appoint someone with the relevant competence to help carry out their duties.  

Where APs and PAPs appoint others to help carry out their duties they should continually monitor and assess their competence and capacity.  

Individuals must have the appropriate level of skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to effectively perform their duties. Organisations must have the right organisational capability.

Demonstrating and assessing individual competence   

Individuals can demonstrate their  appropriate competence  by: 

• completing formal training and qualifications to give them skills they need  
• providing a portfolio of work detailing relevant experience and knowledge 

Demonstrating organisational capability

Organisations must show they have the required capability by having policies, procedures, systems and resources in place for their employees to follow relevant regulations. 

You can use the principles in the guide Managing for health and safety to help understand if organisations you appoint have the capability to manage the safety of your building.

Help with competence requirements 

The British Standards Institute’s Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 8673 sets out the recommended competence requirements for safety management in residential buildings. 

Compliance with The British Standards Institute’s PAS 8673 standard, or any other standard, does not guarantee meeting all legal obligations.    

The PAS competencies can, however, help confirm that individuals have the competence to perform their roles and be used as a benchmark to assess individuals’ competence.

Operating environment 

Understand the requirements for relevant legislation. Allocate roles and responsibilities to collect, store and manage relevant information, and produce the building safety case report. 

Leadership and teamwork 

Be able to prioritise building safety and engage with the building’s occupants. These competencies require an ethical approach, the ability to assess the skills to manage building activity, and delegating and empowering others.    

Building systems and safety 

Understand the building’s fire and structural safety risks and how to prevent incidents. 

Operational practices 

Be able to establish a safety management system including: 

• monitoring and inspection regimes 
• selection and management of competent contractors 
• emergency response arrangements 
• communicate with occupants 

Risk management  

Understand risk assessment methodology such as hazard identification and risk assessment, and apply these to assess and explain the building risk profile including insurance issues. 

Planning, monitoring and control 

Competencies for planning, monitoring and control including being able to manage cost, time and resource requirements, manage change and learn lessons.

Breach of duties

Building Safety Regulator will work with the accountableAP person or principalPAP accountable person to resolve any potential non-compliance. If the matter cannot be resolved, the Building Safety Regulator can take a range of enforcement actions, including issuing compliance notices and in some cases, prosecution.

InBSR extremecan cases,apply to the BuildingFirst-tier SafetyTribunal Regulatorfor cana applyspecial measures order if there’s been one of the following: 

• a serious failure to comply with a duty 
• at least two failures under the First-tierBuilding TribunalSafety forAct 

If a special measures order​.order Thisis meansmade, a special measures manager could(SMM) takeis overappointed. theThe buildingSMM safetyand dutiesAP frommust allfollow accountablethe personsterms forset out in the building.special measures order.

Contact

Contact the Building Safety Regulator.

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