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Accountable persons and the principal accountable person manage the fire and structural safety risks of a high-rise residential building.

This guidance will help you understand these roles and their legal duties as set out in the Building Safety Act 2022.?

Accountable person

An accountable person is an individual or organisation that owns or has a legal obligation to repair any common parts of the building.

Common parts areused by residents, such as:

• the structure and exterior of the building
• corridors
• lobbies
• staircases

Examples of an accountable person are a:

• freeholder or estate owner
• landlord
• management company
• resident management company
• right to manage company
• commonhold association

Principal accountable person

Each building must have one clearly identifiable accountable person, known as the principal accountable person. This can be an individual or an organisation, like a commonhold association, local authority or social housing provider.

Check who it is

If there is just one accountable person for a building, then they will be the principal accountable person.

When there are multiple accountable persons, then whoever owns or has a legal obligation to repair the structure and exterior of the building is the principal accountable person.

Accountable persons and the principal accountable person can be accountable for the fire and structural safety risks of more than one building.

Clarity about who is accountable

Accountable persons and the principal accountable person cannot delegate their legal obligations to others. They can employ an individual or an organisation, like a managing agent, under a contract to carry out duties on their behalf. However, the accountability for making sure those duties are carried out and the liability for a buildings safety remains with the accountable persons and principal accountable person.

If the principal accountable person is an organisation, then someone within the organisation should be the single point of contact for the Building Safety Regulator. This individual should have authority or duties relating to the safety of the building, but this does not make them the principal accountable person. It is the organisation that is the principal accountable person.

When a building is operated through a complex leasehold structure, then the accountable person is any individual or organisation that owns or has a legal obligation under their lease to repair and maintain any of the common parts.

If there is uncertainty about who is an accountable person or principal accountable person an interested party can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a decision.

An interested party can be:

• the Building Safety Regulator
• an individual or organisation who owns, or claims to own, any part of the common parts
• a person or organisation who has, or claims to have, a repairing obligation for any part of the common parts

How accountable persons work with Responsible Persons (Fire Safety)

A Responsible Person is a role under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. In some buildings an accountable person or the principal accountable person will also be the Responsible Person. Where this is not the case, building safety information must be shared across these roles and any information shared must meet data protection requirements.

Legal duties

Accountable persons 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, accountable persons must:

• put measures in place to prevent building safety risks happening and reduce the severity of any incident that does happen
• report certain fire and structural safety issues or incidents
• engage with residents about the buildings safety
• keep, update and provide information about the building
• transfer building safety information to any incoming accountable person
• notify the Building Safety Regulator if theres a change to an accountable person

Accountable persons are responsible for the following parts of a building:

• the common parts
• residential units or commonhold units
• balconies
• any other part of the building that is not covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order)

If there are multiple accountable persons for a building, they must work together and share safety information about the building.

Additional duties for the principal accountable person

The principal accountable person must register the building with the Building Safety Regulator. As part of the registration process they must:

• submit structure and safety information about the building
• notify the Building Safety Regulator of any changes to the information submitted at registration

The principal accountable person must also make sure that the structural and fire safety risks are managed properly for the whole building.

The principal accountable person must check that all accountable persons for the building have:

• identified and assessed the fire and structural risks in their parts of the building
• taken steps to prevent incidents from happening
• put measures in place to lessen the severity of any incident

The principal accountable person must manage the buildings safety by:

• putting together a safety case for the building and preparing a safety case report
• operating a reporting system to record building safety issues and incidents
• operating a complaints system to investigate concerns about the buildings safety risks or the performance of an accountable person
• displaying required information and documentation clearly within the building
• preparing and updating a residents engagement strategy so that residents and owners can participate in making building safety decisions
• applying for a building assessment certificate when directed by the Building Safety Regulator

The principal accountable person must notify the Building Safety Regulator about changes to the:

• buildings safety risks
• safety case report

Breach of duties

The Building Safety Regulator will work with the accountable person or principal accountable person to resolve any potential non-compliance. If the matter cannot be resolved, the Building Safety Regulator can take a range of enforcement actions, including issuing compliance notices and in some cases, prosecution.

In extreme cases, the Building Safety Regulator can apply for a special measures order appointing a special measures manager to take over the building safety duties from all accountable persons for the building.