Building Safety
Accountable Person (AP):
An AP is an organisation or individual who owns or has a legal obligation to repair any common parts of the building.
APs 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.
APs and the PAP cannot delegate their legal obligations to others.
APs and the PAP can employ an organisation or individual, like a managing agent, to carry out duties on their behalf. However, the APS and PAP remain accountable for ensuring that those duties are carried out and are liable for a building’s safety.
An AP can be a:
Principal accountable person (PAP):
Each building must have one clearly identifiable AP, known as the PAP. The PAP is usually an organisation, like a commonhold association, local authority or social housing provider. In some circumstances, an individual can be the PAP.
If the PAP is an organisation, then someone from the organisation can be the single point of contact for BSR.
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 PAP. It is the organisation that is the PAP.
The PAP must give written consent to the third party. If this consent stops, the PAP must update the single point of contact with BSR.
Accountability remains with whoever owns the common part, or has the legal obligation to repair or maintain them under a lease.
A landlord that rents or leases property and is legally responsible for maintaining the common parts of their building is an AP, for example:
APs can instruct a third party (such as Jennings & Barrett) to manage the below on their behalf, however overall responsibility remains with the AP.
APs 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, APs must:
When there is only one AP, they are responsible for managing the structural and fire safety risks in:
In order to perform their role, the AP can enter a residence at a reasonable time to assess or manage building safety risks – but a set procedure must be followed to ensure this is done legally.
When there are multiple APs ,each AP is responsible for managing the structural and fire safety risks in:
If there are multiple APs for a building, they must work together and share safety information about the building.
When a residential unit is let on a long lease, which is usually 21 years or more, the AP must:
For example, the AP must make sure that afire cannot spread from a leasehold unit to the to the rest of the building. If a fire starts in a common part, the AP must make sure it will not spread into the unit.
If the landlord is not the AP, they’re not accountable for the safety risks beyond the front doors. An AP for the common parts will need to manage these risks.
A resident’s lease or rental agreement usually includes building safety requirements. It is their responsibility to follow any terms set out in their agreement.
The AP can issue a contravention notice ifit appears the resident is behaving in a manor that constitutes a risk to the building, or is failing to respond to requests for information relating to building safety.
PAPs have additional duties.
This content is sourced from gov.uk. Some details have been removed for the sake of clarity.
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