Legislation has been proposed as part of the next steps of the government’s Remediation Action Plan to ensure buildings are made safe by 2031
The government has announced a series of measures in a bid to ensure homes across the UK are made safer, restore public confidence in building safety, and prevent further tragedies like the Grenfell Tower fire.
In a statement published on 17 July 2025, the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG) announced that a new Remediation Bill will be brought before parliament. The proposed new legislation would require landlords of buildings of 18m or higher to complete the remediation of any unsafe cladding by the end of 2029. Landlords of medium-rise buildings will be given until the end of 2031 to complete remediation.
Failure to meet these deadlines could see named bodies, such as local authorities and Homes England, take on the remediation of buildings under new powers proposed, and landlords could be hit with unlimited fines or imprisonment.
Aimed at tackling the pace of remediation, the bill will be put before parliament as soon as the timetable allows, with Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, saying this action sends “a clear message to those responsible for a building still wrapped in unsafe cladding: act now or face the consequences. Our Remediation Bill will include a new duty on you to make your building safe by a specified date, and new powers to impose serious penalties on those who fail to comply with the duty, and ultimately to bypass them if necessary to make the building safe.”
Rayner also commented on another piece of the Remediation Action Plan, saying:
“Today we have given social landlords access to over £1 billion to remediate unsafe cladding and make residents safe. The social sector is ready to rise to the challenge and make sure that residents are safe in their homes.”
The joint plan on social housing remediation has seen government work alongside social landlords to allow them, as private building owners, to have equal access to government-funded remediation schemes. This equal access policy has already been updated in the Cladding Safety Scheme guidance.
With access to these remediation schemes, housing associations, local authorities, and regulators have now committed to accelerating work to find and fix social housing buildings. The agreement will also see improved support for social tenants whose homes need or have had safety remedial work.
The announcement also outlines a number of other steps forward in the remediation process, including:
- additional support for leaseholders to help replace Waking Watch measures and shield leaseholders from associated interim costs
- exceptional access to government funding to support fire-safety cladding remediation works on buildings under 11 metres where no alternative viable funding route exists
- the Building Safety Levy coming into force from October 2026, to raise an expected £3.4 billion over the next decade to help fund remediation
- the rolling out of a new National Remediation system by Homes England to support regulators with up-to date building safety data.
Commenting on the proposed legislation, Building Safety and Fire Minister, Alex Norris said:
“We are determined to make buildings safe and protect residents. Since publishing our Remediation Acceleration Plan, we’ve made strong progress, and this update goes further to drive accountability and remove barriers to speed up remediation.
“There is now a clear pathway to remediate every building with unsafe cladding. We expect everyone to play their part in giving residents and leaseholders the peace of mind that they deserve.”
Responding to this most recent update to the Remediation Action Plan, campaign group End our Cladding Scandal said in a statement:
" We welcome the move towards giving Social Housing providers equal access to grant funding as this has been a key ask of our campaign for years.
"It is disappointing that there remains nothing for non-qualifying leaseholders and nothing on how non-cladding defects will be fixed quickly... Promises to mitigate the harm caused by these longstanding issues have yet to be kept.
They also questioned how quickly the proposed Remediation bill will come into effect, saying: "It is unclear when there will be parliamentary time for the Remediation Bill and, as we all know, legislation will not take effect overnight. Changing behaviours also takes time.”
Recognising there were some “positive steps” in the update, the group called on government for “strong central leadership and a firm grip”, and said there must be an “unrelenting focus on delivery and placing all leaseholders and residents at the heart of remediation.”
Their conclusion was there was still a need for "a huge leap forward, or leaseholders and residents will continue to bear the financial and emotional cost of a crisis they did not cause."