The Building Safety (Responsible Actors Scheme and Prohibitions) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 were made on 11 May 2026 and take effect on 1 June 2026. As published on legislation.gov.uk, the instrument was laid in draft, approved by both Houses under the Building Safety Act 2022, signed by Samantha Dixon for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and extends to England and Wales. The Government states that the regulations correct a defect in S.I. 2023/753 and are being issued free of charge to known recipients of that earlier instrument. This is a corrective measure rather than a fresh policy reset, but it still changes how parts of the Responsible Actors Scheme operate in practice.
The Explanatory Note says the 2023 Regulations created the Responsible Actors Scheme, which requires relevant developers to identify buildings for which they are responsible and to remediate or mitigate life-critical fire safety defects, or repay the cost of that work. Where a developer fails to meet those duties, the 2023 regime can trigger building control and planning prohibitions. That enforcement background explains why apparently technical drafting changes deserve attention. In this instrument, the Ministry has adjusted the wording of operative provisions and several exceptions that allow certain applications, notices and certificates to proceed.
Regulations 3, 4 and 5 make the most direct drafting corrections. In regulations 13, 15 and 16 of the 2023 Regulations, the phrase does not fall within is replaced with falls within the categories of person described in. The Explanatory Note says this removes a double negative and makes the text read more clearly. Regulation 6 then omits regulation 30 of the 2023 Regulations altogether. The published note does not expand on the reason for that repeal within this instrument, so the immediate effect is simply that regulation 30 is removed from the scheme.
Regulation 7 revises regulation 33, which deals with the building control prohibition. The most notable addition is the express reference to applications for building control approval with full plans under regulation 14 of the Building Regulations 2010. The instrument also updates the notices referred to in regulation 33 so that they match regulation 16(4) and 16(5) of the 2010 Regulations, and it adjusts the provision dealing with notices that grant or reject a full plans application under regulation 14A. For practitioners, that means the prohibition is tied more clearly to the current building control routes. Parties handling full plans applications now have a firmer legislative statement on when those applications, and the resulting notices, sit inside the prohibition regime.
Regulation 8 amends the emergency repair work exception in regulation 34. Where an applicable person proposes emergency repair work, the giving of a building notice under regulation 12(8) of the Building Regulations 2010, or a notice under regulation 16(4), is not treated as a breach of the building control prohibition, subject to the existing conditions. The amendment goes further by stating that, where this exception applies, the local authority is not barred from issuing a completion certificate under regulation 17 of the 2010 Regulations. That closes an administrative gap by making clear that urgent repair work can move through the emergency route without leaving completion certification unresolved.
Regulation 9 makes a broader set of changes to regulation 35, which covers the exception for work to existing occupied buildings. The instrument adds amendment notices under section 51A of the Building Act 1984, removes paragraph 2, and updates the references to notices under regulation 16(4) and 16(5) of the Building Regulations 2010. It also states that, where the exception applies, the relevant authority may issue completion certificates under regulations 17 and 17A, and the local authority may accept or reject a plans certificate under section 50 of the 1984 Act. In practical terms, this gives occupied-building projects a clearer route for variations, certification and formal decisions while prohibition rules remain in force for non-compliant actors.
Regulation 10 widens access to the Secretary of State exception in regulation 36. Until now, the route focused on an applicable person. The amendment allows a purchaser to apply as well, and defines purchaser as a person who has exchanged a contract for the sale and purchase of a dwelling in the building, or of the building itself where it contains a single dwelling. That is a narrow change, but it could matter in stalled transactions. A buyer who is already contractually committed can now seek an exception directly, rather than relying only on the applicable person to do so. For conveyancers, developers and funders, that may reduce some of the procedural blockage that prohibition cases can create.
Taken together, the 2026 amendments are best read as a repair and clarification exercise within the Building Safety Act regime. The note published on legislation.gov.uk presents the measure as a response to a defect in the 2023 Regulations, but several of the edits do more than tidy drafting. They specify which applications, notices and certificates may still be given or received in defined circumstances. The Government has not produced a full impact assessment, stating that no significant effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Even so, firms subject to the Responsible Actors Scheme, along with advisers and public authorities, will want to review internal processes before 1 June 2026 so that full plans, emergency works, occupied-building projects and purchaser applications are handled against the amended text rather than the earlier defective wording.