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Check if you need to register a building

Only apply to register high-rise residential buildings in England.

A high-rise residential structure has:

• at least 7 floors or is at least 18 metres in height
• at least 2 residential units

A high-rise residential building can contain one or more high-rise residential structures. You may need to apply to register 2 or more structures as one building if theyre connected in certain ways.

Do not register buildings that are entirely used as a:

• hospital
• care home
• secure residential institution
• hotel
• military premises
• prison

Read the full guidance on buildings that need to be registered.

Check who can register the building

The principal accountable person must make sure the building is registered.

A principal accountable person can be an individual or an organisation like a:

• housing association
• local authority
• company

Individuals within these organisations cannot be the principal accountable person. The organisation is the principal accountable person.

Someone within the organisation should be the single point of contact. The Building Safety Regulator will contact this individual to discuss building safety issues. They should have authority or duties relating to the safety of the building. But this does not make them the principal accountable person.

Authorising someone else to register

The principal accountable person can authorise someone else to register the building for them. For example, they can authorise a managing agent or legal representative.

The authorisation must be in writing like an email, letter or written contract. Authorising someone to act for you does not make them the principal accountable person.

Principal accountable person organisations do not need to authorise their individual employees.

Register the building

You must register your high-rise buildings that residents occupy or could occupy by 30 September 2023. It is an offence to allow residents to occupy an unregistered building after this date.

New buildings completed after 1 October 2023 must have a relevant completion certificate or final notice. They must be registered before residents can occupy them.

You can apply to register a high-rise residential building online.

You will need:

• a credit or debit card to pay the 251 registration fee per building
• the buildings name, address and postcode
• a building summary, including height in metres, number of floors and residential units, and year of completion
• the names and contact details of the principal accountable person and accountable persons

Building summary

As part of the application to register a high-rise residential building you need to give us a summary of the building.

Number of floors at or above ground level

Count all floors from ground level to the top floor, whether they have residential units or not.

Count mezzanine floors that are 50% or more of the area of other floors. If a mezzanine floor is less than 50% of the area of any of the other floors, do not count it as a floor.

Do not count:

• floors below ground level
• the roof

Ground level

Ground level is the level of the land immediately next to the building. If that land is uneven, it is the lowest part of the land immediately next to the building. Any floors below that level are below ground level.

Top floor

The top floor is the top of the floor surface of the top storey of the building. Ignore the roof.

Height of the building

Measure the height in metres (up to 2 decimal places) from ground level to the top floor. Do not measure the roof.

You can estimate the height if the building:

• has at least 7 floors
• is clearly over 18 metres

Keep a record of how you estimated the height.

Number of residential units

Count all residential units, whether someone is living in them or not. A residential unit is a place where someone can live, like a flat, apartment, maisonette or a room in student accommodation.

When the building was completed

Tell us the year the building was originally built. If you do not know the exact year, you can select from a range.

For buildings completed in 2023 or later, you must tell us:

• the name of the building control body that issued the completion certificate or final notice
• the certificate or notice number

For buildings completed between 1985 and 2022, you should take reasonable steps to give this information.

For buildings completed before 1985, you do not need to give this information.

Structure and fire safety information

You need to give us information about the buildings structure and fire safety, this is also known as key building information. Well ask you about:

• fire and smoke controls
• energy supplies, storage and generation
• type of structure, roof, staircases and external walls
• the buildings use
• building work since original build
• connections between structures or to other buildings

You should be able to get the information we need from the most recent fire risk assessment. If theres an external wall system (EWS) appraisal, the information might also be there. So you should not need to do a full separate survey.

The guide Building Safety Regulator: giving us information about structure and safety (key building information) will help you to understand what structure and safety information well ask for, and how you might find it.

Making changes

Contact the Building Safety Regulator if you need to make any changes to the information you submitted. You must tell us about a change within 14 days of becoming aware of it.

Withdraw an application

Contact the Building Safety Regulator if you need to withdraw an application.

Decisions

Well assess your application and make a decision:

• to register the high-rise residential building
• reject your application well set out the reasons why

Reviews

If you disagree with the decision about your application, you can ask the Building Safety Regulator to look at the decision again.

You must ask for this review within 21 days of the decision.

For example if we made a decision on Tuesday 2 May 2023, you must ask for a review by Tuesday 23 May 2023.

When you ask for a review, you need to include the following information:

• your name
• an address in England and Wales that we can serve notices to (including notices in proceedings)
• your email address
• your telephone number
• if youre authorising someone else to act for you, their name and address
• the name, address and postcode of the building the decision is about
• a way to identify the decision being reviewed, like the application number
• your reasons for asking for the review

You should also tell us about any new information that may have been relevant to the original decision but was not available when the decision was made.

You must also confirm that you have told any other accountable persons that you have asked for a review.

Contact the Building Safety Regulator if you want to ask for a review.