The government launched on 21 July a Responsible Actors Scheme (RAS) requiring residential developers to pay for building safety remediation work.
Elegible developers who do not join the scheme, or later fail to comply with its conditions, will be effectively frozen out of the market by having planning and building control prohibitions imposed on them.
The government expects these prohibitions to incentivise companies to remediate unsafe buildings and pay for past safety failings.
The government gave a 60-day deadline to developers ‘invited’ to join the scheme. As of 21 of August, 21 companies had joined:
| Members who have joined the Responsible Actors Scheme as of 21 August 2023 |
| Ballymore Ltd Bellway PLC Bloor Investments Ltd Crest Nicholson PLC Croudace Homes Group Ltd Fairview Holdings Ltd Galliard Group Ltd Inland Homes PLC Jelson Holdings Ltd Keepmoat Ltd Land Securities Group PLC McCarthy & Stone Ltd Miller Homes Ltd Morgan Sindall Group PLC (parent company for Lovell and Muse) Morris Homes Group Ltd Persimmon PLC Redrow PLC Rowland Group Ltd Story Homes Ltd Telford Homes Ltd Vistry Group PLC |
How is goverment making developers pay for building remediation?
The scheme is one of the tools the government will use to make developers pay for fixing unsafe buildings, which also include the Building Safety Levy and the developer remediation contract. These last two initiatives are expected to raise up to £5bn to correct historic defects in buildings.
Two developers remain on the list of companies that have not signed the remediation contract, including the lead contractor of the Grenfell Tower refurbishment.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) said that many of the companies invited to sign the developer remediation contract are likely to be eligible to join the RAS and invitations have been sent to a number of these.
The RAS is initially focusing on major housebuilders that have developed or refurbished multiple residential buildings with life-critical fire safety defects, such as unsafe cladding.
Members of the scheme must regularly provide evidence to the secretary of state to ensure they are complying with the conditions of membership.
Those developers that fail any membership conditions may receive a formal warning or have their membership revoked immediately.
DLUHC said additional companies may be eligible to join RAS besides those that have been sent invites. Developers that wish to be considered for the scheme can look at the criteria on the government website.
All eligible developers that join the scheme must enter into a self-remediation contract with the secretary of state for DLUHC, if they have not already done so, and commit to meeting all other conditions of membership.
This story was updated on 21 August 2023.
