Remediation Enforcement Support Fund

This funding is only available for Local Authorities and Fire and Rescue Authorities. The funding is for them to procure legal advice on pursuing those responsible for remediating buildings.

- Funding organisation: Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government - Location: England - Award: £5,000 to £100,000 per award; total scheme size £1 million - Opening date: 2024-12-02 - Closing date: 2027-03-01

Summary

The government's remediation enforcement strategy aims to make sure that unsafe buildings are identified and progress to remediation as quickly as possible.

To deliver this strategy, Local Authorities and Fire and Rescue Authorities (regulators) need access to resources and expertise to pursue appropriate enforcement action.

The government believes there is a gap in support for regulators who wish to use their legal powers to pursue Landlords who are failing to remediate, and those who are responsible for funding that remediation.

MHCLG are therefore offering this funding to help address this gap.

This funding is available as 2 options. The options are assessed and applied for separately. And a regulator does not need to have used option 1 funding before applying for option 2.

Option 1 - £5,000 to procure independent advice from third party professionals to assess whether a legal case can be brought.

Option 2 - Up to £100k to procure the necessary third-party expert services required to pursue the legal case.

Eligibility

The funding is only available for Local Authorities and Fire and Rescue Authoritites in England.

Full guidance for applicants can be found here

The following criteria must all be met for an application to be funded:

- Applicant is the Local Authority (LA) or the Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) in which the building is situated - The funding is for third party expert advice on pursuing a legal claim - The LA or FRA have independently chosen to pursue this case based on previous assessment/enforcement work - The building has at least one defect which puts people’s safety at risk from the spread of fire - The building is in England - The building is a self-contained building or a self-contained part of a building with at least 2 dwellings - The building is at least 11 metres or 5 storeys high

A single case may involve more than one building (e.g. multiple buildings in the same estate built by the same developer) but at least one must meet the criteria above.

If the applicant is a LA who already receives New Burdens funding from MHCLG:

- Initial enforcement action (such as serving an Improvement Notice) must have already been taken in relation to building safety defects and have not been complied with

If application is for an RO or RCO case:

- The building must contain at least one relevant defect (Relevant defects are defined in section 120 of the Building Safety Act 2022 and explained in the remediation order guidance.) - The respondent to the claim must be a “relevant landlord” under the Building Safety Act, Section 123(3)) in respect of relevant building (Section 117) that contains at least one relevant defect (Section 120(2)) or, for an RCO a "specified body corporate" under the Building Safety Act (section 124(3))

Objectives

The fund is designed to increase the pace of the remediation of unsafe buildings.

It will support LAs/FRAs who wish to use their legal powers to pursue building owners who are not remediating their buildings quickly enough.

This will benefit the leaseholders and residents in the buildings involved - minimising the cost burden of interim safety measures; the risk to life and wellbeing from a major fire event and reducing uncertainty. There are wider benefits too, as the number of cases being pursued increases, the Department and regulators will learn more about how to pursue and prepare cases better, sharing experience and best practise with other considering pursuing legal action.

MHCLG also expect that increasing enforcement action will send a strong message to building owners and encourage them to proactively remediate their buildings rather than risk future legal action.

Dates

The Department aims to decide whether to approve the application with 14 working days.

If the decision is not to fund, feedback will be provided.

If you have any questions about the Fund or the application process, please contact localregulatorengagement@communities.gov.uk

How to apply

Before apply please read this application guidance.

Applicants for Option 1 (£5,000 to procure independent advice from third party professionals to assess whether a legal case can be brought.) should apply via this form

Applicants for Option 2 (Up to £100k to procure the necessary third-party expert services required to pursue the legal case) should apply via this form

For any queries please contact localregulatorengagement@communites.gov.uk

Supporting information

Application Guidance can be found here

Apply / more information: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=EGg0v32c3kOociSi7zmVqNaIpoo0W9pCh5BpaLcXbEVURExBTlVISlI3M05XQ085QzlEWDRTVU1TRC4u