Welsh Ministers have made the Building Safety Act 2022 (Commencement No. 6) (Wales) Regulations 2025, appointing 1 July 2026 for a further set of Part 3 and Schedule 5 provisions to take effect in Wales. The instrument was made on 12 December 2025 by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning, Rebecca Evans.
Local authorities will gain statutory compliance and stop notice powers under the Building Act 1984, inserted by section 38 of the Building Safety Act 2022. A compliance notice can require specified remedial steps within a set period; a stop notice can halt work immediately where prescribed contraventions occur or where non‑compliance would be likely to present a risk of serious harm. Breach of either is an offence, with penalties of up to two years’ imprisonment or a fine, and daily fines for continuing default. Appeals are provided for in the Act.
Criminal liability for contravening building regulations is strengthened. Section 39 updates the offence of breach of building regulations and, critically for Wales, lengthens the period for local authorities to serve alteration or removal notices under section 36 of the 1984 Act from 12 months to 10 years. This materially extends the enforcement horizon for historic non‑compliance.
Approvals will no longer remain on the shelf. Section 36 introduces automatic lapsing of building control approvals, initial notices and public body notices after three years if work has not commenced; on multi‑building sites, lapsing applies on a building‑by‑building basis, preventing long‑running schemes from relying on historic consents for plots where work has not started.
When prescribed applications for higher‑risk building work are not determined within the required period and no extension has been agreed, applicants may ask the Welsh Ministers to determine the original application. Once such a request is made, the local authority may not decide the case; decisions of the Welsh Ministers are appealable to a magistrates’ court.
Default powers are also clarified. Where a local authority persistently falls short in carrying out functions under the 1984 Act and risks public safety, the Welsh Ministers may declare it in default and transfer specified functions to themselves or to another authority. In England, similar powers involve the Building Safety Regulator; in Wales the power rests with Ministers.
Section 32(2) updates section 91 of the 1984 Act so references to the ‘building control authority’ and the Welsh designation power in section 91ZD are fully embedded. In Wales, higher‑risk building control remains with local authorities while the profession itself is regulated through registered building control approvers and registered building inspectors under regulations made in 2024.
A wide set of minor and consequential amendments in Schedule 5 also commence on the same date. These adjust terminology, testing powers, process and regulation‑making provisions across the 1984 Act to reflect the new framework, replacing ‘local authority’ where appropriate and updating how applications, approvals and appeals operate.
The 2026 start date builds on earlier Welsh instruments. The 2023 commencement regulations began dutyholder and competence provisions and partially commenced the lapse and enforcement framework; 2024 instruments implemented the transition to registered building control approvers and brought most of Schedules 4–6 into effect; technical amendments followed in 2025 alongside changes to the Building Regulations.
For local authorities, registered building control approvers and clients, the practical effect from 1 July 2026 is clear: plan site programmes around the three‑year commencement gate, expect routine use of compliance and stop notices on non‑compliant work, and factor in a materially longer enforcement tail for historic breaches. Contracts, appointment letters and internal enforcement policies will need review to reflect the new statutory tools and time limits now confirmed for Wales.