The Compliance Landscape: What Property and Facility Managers Should Know

Building safety

The Building Safety Act 2022 sets a high bar for transparency and accountability in the construction and real estate industries. There are stronger building safety duties for principal accountable persons and accountable persons, including higher expectations for resident engagement, building information, and the requirement for mandatory occurrence reporting for higher risk buildings.

Under the Act, owners and managers must keep safety information about how a building has been designed, built, and managed up to date. Known as the golden thread of information, this serves as a single source of truth for a higher-risk building, outlining the steps needed to keep both the building and its inhabitants safe—now and in the future.

Poor practice

A large residential landlord discovered incomplete golden thread records during a planned audit. Missing fire system drawings and handover packs forced an urgent third‑party verification program and six‑figure consultancy costs to bring higher risk building files up to standard.

Actions you can take

Keep evidence of your communications with residents on an accessible system: methods of communication can be notices, emails, letters, resident safety forums to talk about building safety, or induction sessions to talk about building safety

• Undertake mandatory occurrence reporting: create and upload your mandatory occurrence reports onto an accessible system
• Prepare and upload a golden thread: compile and centralise current building information for each higher‑risk building (ownership – who the Principal or Accountable Person is), building documentation such as floorplans, health and safety (H&S) file, structural reports, fire strategy, fire risk assessments, external wall survey reports, and recent inspections into accessible folders

Fire safety

Fire safety remains a paramount concern for property and facility managers, particularly in the wake of high-profile incidents that have underscored the need for more rigorous oversight and accountability. Recent reforms aim to strengthen risk assessment processes and improve transparency, with a focus on protecting building occupants and emergency responders. These changes place greater responsibility on those managing properties to ensure comprehensive fire risk evaluations and effective communication of safety information.

The Fire Safety Act 2021, with subsequent amendments to the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, indicates that responsible persons must include external walls and certain communal elements in fire risk assessments and increase information sharing duties.

Poor practice

After updating risk assessments to include external walls, a residential portfolio found several buildings with combustible cladding. Immediate remedial works, and temporary evacuation plans required pending remediation, causing relocation costs and rent loss.

Actions you can take

• Commission or update a desktop review of external walls and communal escape routes for every building in scope and schedule priority physical inspections where the review flags uncertainty or risk
• Develop a fire safety information pack for high‑rise/multi‑occupied residential buildings: store in a secure information box on the premises for use by the fire and rescue service during a fire to provide them with necessary on-site information with the building’s floor plans and firefighting equipment
• Complete a full recorded fire risk assessment, including identifying assessor(s) and the entire assessment, not just significant findings
• Create personal emergency evacuation plans (PEEP) and document emergency evacuation statements as required by the new Fire Safety (Residential Evacuation Plans) (England) Regulations 2025, effective from 6 April 2026

Indoor air quality

As buildings are becoming more energy-efficient and airtight, ensuring adequate indoor air quality is crucial to occupant health and building performance. Approved Document F encourages indoor air quality monitoring as part of compliance, aiming to prevent moisture, mould, and pollutant build-up for both refurbishments and new works. It mandates higher ventilation rates and mechanical ventilation for airtight new homes to improve indoor air quality.

Air quality testing is crucial in minimising indoor air pollution and associated adverse health effects. But as well as creating a healthy environment for building occupants, air quality assessments serve as evidence of health and safety compliance.

Poor practice

A school failed a post‑refurb indoor air quality check when carbon dioxide (CO₂) monitoring showed persistent high levels. Rapid installation of mechanical ventilation and extra filter replacements led to unexpected capital and service‑contract spend.

Actions you can take

• Deploy CO₂ monitors to measure carbon dioxide levels and airflow rates in a sample of high‑occupancy spaces (such as meeting rooms, classrooms, and wards): log results for 7–14 days to identify under‑ventilated areas and trigger immediate remedial action, which might include increased ventilation and filter changes
• Engage with specialists to audit indoor quality across your portfolio: an indoor air quality audit will assess standards of hygiene within air handling units and whether contaminant levels within the re-circulating air are satisfactory

Energy performance

Energy performance requirements are tightening, and minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) are expanding as part of the UK’s broader strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Landlords and property owners are facing rising energy efficiency obligations with potential fines and cost caps under consultation proposals. Understanding the direction of future legislation is crucial to preventing non-compliance risks and to protect long-term property value.

The government has proposed that by 2027, commercial landlords will need to ensure rented buildings have an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of at least C, which will likely tighten to a B rating requirement by 2030. Whilst not yet law, landlords can be preparing for these requirements now to avoid steep fines, decreased property values, and increased operating costs.

Poor practice

A multi‑let retail parade with low EPC ratings was put at risk of lease renewals and potential fines. The landlord commissioned retrofit works, including insulation and new boilers on short notice, straining budgets and delaying other planned projects.

Actions you can take

• Run an EPC risk triage: pull current EPCs, flag units with an EPC rating below E, and create an action list (no/low‑cost measures first) to present to owners for urgent budget allocation and plan to achieve a C rating by 2027
• Audit energy efficiency: engage energy specialists to audit your portfolio and identify areas for improvement, like replacing dated boilers and installing high-efficiency heat pumps and motion sensors for lighting

Overall stronger enforcement

Higher fines and a stern sentencing approach mean non-compliance carries larger financial and reputational risk. It’s essential you ensure your paper trail is robust. Non-compliance can lead to enforcement notices and a significant fine for a property management company, plus urgent remediation and legal fees to avoid escalation.

We recommend performing a 30‑day compliance sanity check. Verify the five most-requested records (fire risk assessment, asbestos register, Legionella log, EICR, contractor certificates) are current and stored in a single, auditable repository with version history and a named owner.