If you own or manage a high-rise residential block in England, the Building Safety Act 2022 may have made your company an "accountable person", with criminal offences attached to some of the duties. That changes what you need from your insurance. Not because there's a special "accountable person policy" you can buy, but because the duties create new ways to be investigated, prosecuted, sued or asked to pay, and your existing policies may or may not respond to each one.
This guide is for freeholders, resident management companies (RMCs), right to manage (RTM) companies, commonhold associations, investor landlords and the managing agents who run high-rise blocks for them. It sets out who counts as an accountable person and principal accountable person, what the regime requires, and, duty by duty, which insurance responds and which risks can't be insured at all. It also covers the separate leaseholder protections for remediation costs, because they decide who pays for historical defects and that affects every other policy on the building.
If you're an RMC or RTM director and your question is mainly about your personal exposure, our RMC directors' and officers' insurance guide goes into that in detail. For the block buildings policy itself, see block of flats insurance.
The short answer
The regime applies to "higher-risk buildings" in England: at least 18 metres high or at least 7 storeys, with at least 2 residential units (section 65).
An accountable person (AP) is someone who holds a legal estate in any part of the common parts, or who is under a relevant repairing obligation for them (section 72). There can be several.
The principal accountable person (PAP) is the AP responsible for the structure and exterior (section 73). The PAP registers the building, prepares the safety case report and runs the residents' engagement strategy.
The duties carry criminal offences, including occupying an unregistered building (section 77) and breaching a requirement in a way that places people at "critical risk" (section 101). Directors and officers can be personally liable where an offence is committed with their consent or connivance or through their neglect (section 161).
No single policy covers it all. The mix is usually: buildings and property owners' liability on the block policy, D&O for the company's directors, professional indemnity for the managing agent and any consultants, and legal expenses where available. Fines and penalties generally aren't insurable.
Leaseholder protections are a separate regime (sections 116 to 124 and Schedule 8) for historical safety defects in buildings of 11 metres or 5 storeys and above.
Which buildings are higher-risk?
Section 65 of the Act defines a higher-risk building, for the occupation duties in Part 4, as a building in England that is at least 18 metres in height or has at least 7 storeys, and contains at least 2 residential units. Regulations add detail on how to measure height, how to count storeys and what counts as a single building, and exclude some types of building. The Building Safety Regulator's guidance explains that a high-rise residential building can contain more than one high-rise residential structure, and that two or more structures connected by a walkway, lobby or basement containing a residential unit, or by an internal wall with normal-use doors, are registered as a single building.
Measuring matters. A block that is 17.5 metres to the top floor surface on one calculation may be 18 metres on another. If you're near the line, get the height checked properly against the regulations rather than relying on the sales brochure, and record how you reached your answer. Insurers ask.
The regime applies in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different building safety arrangements.
Who is the accountable person?
Section 72 gives two routes:
Holding a legal estate in possession in any part of the common parts. Typically the freeholder, or a head lessee that owns the common parts.
Being under a relevant repairing obligation for the common parts without holding a legal estate. Typically an RMC that is party to the leases and has the repair covenants, or an RTM company that has taken over management functions.
The rules then sort out overlaps. A freeholder whose long leases put the repairing obligation for all the relevant common parts on someone else (for example a management company) isn't an AP for those parts by virtue of the estate alone. And where all the repairing obligations for the relevant common parts are functions of an RTM company, the freeholder isn't an AP for them by that route either. Commonhold has its own rule.
The Act puts the duties on the AP itself. A managing agent can do the work, but the legal duty stays with the AP.
The principal accountable person
Under section 73, if there's only one AP, that person is the PAP. If there's more than one, the PAP is the one who holds the legal estate in, or has the repairing obligation for, the structure and exterior of the building. The Regulator's guidance puts it simply: the PAP is the AP accountable for the external walls and structure.
Who's who in common setups
Ownership and management setup | Likely AP(s) | Likely PAP |
|---|---|---|
Investor freeholder, repairs under the leases, managing agent appointed | Freeholder | Freeholder |
Freeholder plus RMC that is party to the leases with the repair covenants | RMC (and the freeholder for any parts it still has to repair) | Whoever is responsible for the structure and exterior, often the RMC |
RTM company has acquired the right to manage | RTM company for the functions it took over | Usually the RTM company |
Leaseholder-owned freehold company (share of freehold) | The freehold company | The freehold company |
Mixed-use: commercial landlord keeps the retail units and structure, RMC runs the residential common parts | Commercial landlord and RMC | The party responsible for the structure and exterior |
Housing association or local authority block | The landlord body | The landlord body |
Every block is different and the leases decide. If it isn't obvious, the First-tier Tribunal can determine disputes. Get legal advice before you register.
What the accountable person has to do
The duties below are the ones that most often shape insurance. This isn't a full compliance guide; the Building Safety Regulator publishes the detail, and the RMC D&O guide linked above summarises how they land on directors.
Duty | Who | Section | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|---|
Register the building before it is occupied | PAP | 77, 78 | Apply to the Regulator. It's an offence if the building is occupied but not registered, with a reasonable excuse defence |
Give structure and fire safety information | PAP | Regulations | The Regulator's guidance says you have 28 days after applying to register to give more detailed key building information |
Assess building safety risks | Each AP | 83 | Assess the risk of fire spread and structural failure for the parts you're responsible for |
Manage those risks | Each AP | 84 | Take all reasonable steps to prevent a building safety risk materialising and to reduce the severity of an incident |
Prepare a safety case report | PAP | 85 | A report bringing together the risk assessments and the steps taken, kept under review |
Apply for a building assessment certificate when directed | PAP | 79 | Within 28 days of a direction from the Regulator; failing to do so without reasonable excuse is an offence |
Keep prescribed information | Each AP | 88 | Keep and update the "golden thread" of building information |
Residents' engagement strategy | PAP | 91 | A strategy for involving residents in building safety decisions |
Respond to compliance notices | Each AP | 99 | The Regulator can require specified steps; failing to comply is an offence |
For new higher-risk buildings, or works that create one, section 76 adds a further offence where a residential unit is occupied before a completion certificate is issued.
Registration costs £251 per building, according to the Regulator's registration service page, which also says only the PAP (or someone authorised to act for them) can apply. A building that's registered appears on the public register.
The offences that matter for insurance
Section 77: occupied but not registered.
Section 79: failing to apply for a building assessment certificate on time.
Section 101: an AP that, without reasonable excuse, contravenes a relevant requirement in a way that places people in or about the building at "critical risk", meaning a significant risk of death or serious injury arising from a building safety risk.
Section 161: where a company commits an offence under Part 4 with the consent or connivance of a director, manager, secretary or similar officer, or through their neglect, that person commits the offence too. For a company whose affairs are managed by its members, "director" means a member.
Several of these carry imprisonment of up to two years on indictment, or a fine, or both. That's the point many volunteer RMC directors miss.
What insurance responds to each risk
This is the core of the page. Think of the AP's exposure in five buckets.
1. Damage to the building: buildings insurance
Fire, escape of water, storm, impact and so on are covered, as before, by the block buildings policy. The Building Safety Act doesn't change what a buildings policy is for. What it does change is what insurers ask before they'll offer terms on a high-rise block: registration status, the safety case report, the fire risk assessment, external wall information (for example an EWS1 form or a fire risk appraisal of external walls), remediation plans and timescales, and evidence that findings have been acted on.
A block with clear answers to those questions has more options. A block with unresolved cladding or fire safety defects may face restricted terms, higher excesses or fewer insurers willing to quote. The commission and fee disclosure rules for multi-occupancy buildings, and how to set the reinstatement value, are covered in our block of flats insurance guide.
2. Injury and third-party damage: property owners' liability
If a resident or visitor is injured because of the state of the common parts, the claim is a liability claim against the occupier or the landlord, usually under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 or section 4 of the Defective Premises Act 1972. That's property owners' liability, normally a section of the block policy. In a higher-risk building, check the limit reflects the number of residents, and check the insured includes every AP: the freeholder, the RMC or RTM company, and their directors and volunteers. Our property owners' liability insurance guide explains how the duties work.
3. Investigations, prosecutions and decisions: directors' and officers' insurance
This is where the Act bites hardest for companies. A Regulator investigation, a compliance notice, a prosecution under section 101 or a personal charge against a director under section 161 isn't a property damage or injury claim. A buildings policy won't respond. The policy designed for it is directors' and officers' (D&O) insurance for the RMC or RTM company.
D&O wordings for residential management companies typically include:
defence costs for claims alleging wrongful acts by directors and officers;
costs of representation at regulatory investigations and interviews, subject to the wording;
costs of defending criminal proceedings brought against an insured person, often with repayment if the person is convicted or found to have acted dishonestly;
claims by leaseholders or the company alleging the directors mismanaged a decision.
What D&O won't pay: criminal fines, regulatory penalties that can't legally be insured, deliberate or dishonest acts, and the cost of the remedial works themselves. If your directors have taken on AP duties, check whether the wording has any building safety, cladding or fire safety exclusion, whether it extends to investigation costs before a formal claim, and whether it covers former directors. The RMC D&O guide and our general D&O insurance guide go into the wording points.
Freeholder investor companies and housing providers that are APs usually buy D&O as part of their wider corporate programme. Check it isn't limited to activities that pre-date the Act.
4. Advice and management work: professional indemnity
Most APs rely on others to do the work: managing agents, building safety managers, fire engineers, fire risk assessors, surveyors. If one of them gets it wrong, for example an inaccurate safety case report, a missed inspection, an incorrect height calculation or a poorly handled registration, the AP keeps the legal duty and turns to the adviser for redress.
That only works if the adviser carries adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance that covers the service they're actually providing. When you appoint or renew a managing agent or consultant for a higher-risk building:
ask for their PI certificate and the limit;
ask whether building safety work (safety cases, golden thread, residents' engagement) is within their declared activities;
check for fire safety or cladding exclusions in their PI wording;
put the scope of their role in writing, so it's clear what they're responsible for.
Managing agents looking for cover for their own business should see our estate and letting agent insurance guide. For consultancies, see our professional indemnity insurance guide.
5. Disputes and tribunal costs: legal expenses
Disputes are common under the new regime: with the freeholder about who is the PAP, with leaseholders about building safety costs in the service charge, with developers about remediation, or applications to the First-tier Tribunal. Some block policies include a legal expenses section; standalone legal expenses cover for property-owning companies is also available. Wordings vary widely on whether they cover tribunal applications, contract disputes with contractors, or defending criminal prosecutions. Read the schedule of covered disputes.
What can't be insured
Exposure | Insurable? |
|---|---|
Criminal fines under the Act | Generally no |
Daily fines for continuing defaults | Generally no |
Cost of remediation works the AP or landlord is legally required to carry out | No, this is a cost of ownership, not an insured event |
Cost of complying with a compliance notice | Generally no |
Defence costs for an investigation or prosecution | Often yes, under D&O or legal expenses, subject to the wording and to repayment terms |
Claims by third parties for injury or damage | Yes, under property owners' liability |
Claims against directors for mismanagement | Yes, under D&O, subject to exclusions |
Losses caused by an adviser's negligence | Recovered from the adviser, who relies on their PI |
Remediation and the leaseholder protections
Part 5 of the Act deals with historical safety defects. It works differently from the higher-risk building regime, and the thresholds are lower.
Relevant buildings. Section 117 defines a relevant building as a self-contained building, or self-contained part of a building, in England that contains at least two dwellings and is at least 11 metres high or has at least 5 storeys. Some buildings are excluded, including those where leaseholders have exercised collective enfranchisement or the right of first refusal, those whose freehold is leaseholder-owned (as defined in regulations), and those on commonhold land.
The protections. Section 122 and Schedule 8 make certain service charge amounts relating to relevant defects not payable by qualifying leaseholders, and allow recovery from landlords. Government guidance summarises the effect: qualifying leaseholders are protected from all cladding system remediation costs; those whose lease was valued below £325,000 in Greater London or £175,000 elsewhere in England, or whose building owner has a group net worth of more than £2 million per relevant building, as at 14 February 2022, are protected from all historical safety remediation costs; and any contribution for non-cladding defects is capped and spread over 10 years. Schedule 8 sets the general caps at £15,000 in Greater London and £10,000 elsewhere, rising to £50,000 for leases valued over £1 million and £100,000 over £2 million. Schedule 8 also stops service charges being used, in general, for legal or other professional services relating to liability for relevant defects.
Orders. Under section 123 the First-tier Tribunal can make a remediation order requiring a relevant landlord to remedy specified defects by a specified time. Under section 124 it can make a remediation contribution order requiring an associated company or partnership to pay towards remediation costs, where it's just and equitable. The Regulator, the local authority, the fire and rescue authority and people with a legal or equitable interest in the building are among those who can apply for a remediation order.
Why this matters for insurance
Insurance won't fund remediation. Remediation of a historical defect isn't sudden and accidental damage. Buildings policies don't pay for it, and the protections exist precisely because insurance doesn't.
Who pays the premium is affected. Where defects increase the buildings premium, the question of what can be recharged to leaseholders through the service charge sits alongside these protections. Get legal advice before recharging costs connected with relevant defects.
Legal costs are restricted. If an RMC or landlord can't recover professional costs relating to relevant defects through the service charge, a legal expenses policy or D&O defence cover matters more.
Interim measures. Waking watch and similar interim measures are covered by the caps in the guidance. They aren't usually an insured cost.
Disclosure. A remediation order, a Regulator compliance notice, or an unresolved defect is material information for insurers. Under the Insurance Act 2015 the company must make a fair presentation of the risk at renewal.
Building safety and your renewal: what insurers ask
For a higher-risk building, expect an underwriter to ask for most of the following. Having them in one pack saves weeks.
Confirmation the building is registered with the Building Safety Regulator, and who the PAP and other APs are.
Height, storeys and number of residential units, and how they were measured.
The current safety case report, or the date it will be complete.
The fire risk assessment for the common parts, with the action plan and evidence of completed actions.
External wall information: EWS1 form or fire risk appraisal of external walls, cladding type and any remediation plan.
Fire detection, alarm, sprinkler and evacuation strategy details.
Any compliance notices, remediation orders or Regulator correspondence.
Claims history, including escape of water and fire.
Directors' details for D&O, and any investigations or disputes.
The managing agent's appointment and PI details.
If the safety case and fire information aren't ready, say so and give a date. Underwriters generally respond better to a clear plan than to gaps.
Five situations
A volunteer RMC board in a 19-metre block
The RMC holds the repairing obligations and is the PAP. Its directors are leaseholders with day jobs. The insurance priorities are: a block buildings policy whose insurers have seen the safety case information, POL that names the RMC and its directors, and D&O that covers regulatory investigations and criminal defence costs for directors, with no building safety exclusion. The managing agent's PI should cover the building safety services it provides.
An RTM company that has just acquired management
The RTM company takes on the management functions and, usually, becomes the PAP. The changeover is the risk: registration details, the golden thread and the safety case need to transfer. Our right to manage company insurance guide covers the insurance handover timeline.
An investor freeholder with a managing agent
The freeholder company is the AP and PAP. Its group D&O should cover building safety investigations. Its contract with the managing agent should set out which AP duties the agent performs, and the agent's PI limit should be appropriate to the building.
A mixed-use building
A commercial landlord owns the structure and lets shops on the ground floor; an RMC runs the residential common parts. Both may be APs. Each company should check its own D&O responds to building safety investigations, and the block policy should name both. Agree in writing who does what.
A 14-metre block with cladding issues
At 14 metres the building is below the higher-risk threshold, so the registration and safety case regime doesn't apply. But it is above 11 metres, so the leaseholder protections for remediation costs can apply. Fire safety duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 still apply to the common parts. Insurance questions about external walls will be the same.
FAQs
Is there such a thing as "accountable person insurance"?
Not as a single product. The accountable person's risks are covered by a combination: buildings and property owners' liability on the block policy, D&O for the company and its directors, PI held by the managing agent and consultants, and legal expenses where available.
Does D&O cover a fine under the Building Safety Act?
Generally no. Criminal fines and penalties that can't lawfully be insured are excluded. D&O can cover defence costs for investigations and prosecutions, subject to the wording and to repayment terms if the person is convicted or acted dishonestly.
Can we delegate the accountable person duties to our managing agent?
You can delegate the work, not the legal duty. The duty stays with the AP. That's why the agent's PI matters: if they get it wrong, the AP needs to be able to recover the loss.
Does the Building Safety Act apply in Wales?
The higher-risk building regime in Part 4 applies to buildings in England. Wales has its own building safety programme. Check the position for your building.
Our block is 16 metres. Do we need to register?
Not under Part 4, which applies from 18 metres or 7 storeys with at least 2 residential units. Measure carefully against the regulations. The leaseholder protections apply from 11 metres or 5 storeys, so they may still be relevant.
Will insurers refuse to cover a building with cladding defects?
Some may decline or restrict terms. Others will offer cover with conditions. A clear remediation plan, current fire risk assessment and external wall information help. We can't promise any particular outcome, but we can present the building properly to the insurers on our panel.
Who pays for D&O in an RMC?
Usually the company, through the service charge, if the lease allows. Check the lease, and whether the cost relates to relevant defects, before recharging.
Talk to us
If your block is a higher-risk building, or you're not sure, send us the current block policy, the D&O schedule if you have one, and where you are with registration and the safety case. We'll check how the policies fit the AP duties, flag gaps such as building safety exclusions or names missing from the insured, and take the risk to the insurers on our panel. Speak to us.
Meshed is a trading name of Mesh'd Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 1033248). We charge a flat 10% broker fee. This guide is general information for England unless stated otherwise. It isn't legal advice, and policy wordings vary between insurers.
Vincent Liu
Co-founder & CTO
