Compliance · 11 min read · Updated 25 October 2026

Building Safety Act Checks in Conveyancing: What to Review and What Software Can Do

Higher-risk and relevant buildings, qualifying leases, certificates, EWS1 and lender reporting, and where software can help.

By Appan Pathmanathan, Chief Operating Officer, Lex Sentinel

On a leasehold flat purchase, a conveyancer needs to establish whether the building is within the Building Safety Act 2022, whether the seller is a qualifying leaseholder protected from remediation costs, and what the lender must be told. The Law Society does not expect the conveyancer to confirm the building's height. Software can organise the documents, and a person decides what they mean.

Lex Sentinel, where I work, builds artificial intelligence (AI) tools for conveyancers, so I have an interest in this topic. This is general information for firms regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in England and Wales, and it is not legal advice. It rests only on the sources listed below. Some carry no date, I did not check the current editions of the Law Society's property forms, I found no SRA or Law Society statement on software reviewing leases or property information forms, and the position on any building turns on facts I cannot see. Where a point is my own view, I say so.

Which buildings does the Building Safety Act affect?

Higher-risk buildings, at least 18 metres or seven storeys, fall under the Building Safety Regulator, and relevant buildings, at least 11 metres or five storeys, carry the leaseholder protections. Under section 65, subject to regulations, a higher-risk building is one in England that is at least 18 metres high or has at least seven storeys, and contains at least two residential units. These are the buildings the Regulator oversees, including under the occupation-phase registration regime. GOV.UK's occupation-phase criteria, last updated on 28 May 2025, exclude among other buildings those that are entirely hospitals, care homes, secure residential institutions, hotels or military barracks. A First-tier Tribunal decision of 3 July 2024 treated an open roof garden as a storey. The government disagrees and plans to amend the regulations.

The leaseholder protections use a lower threshold. A "relevant building" under section 117 is a self-contained building, or self-contained part of one, in England with at least two dwellings, which is at least 11 metres high or has at least five storeys, subject to exclusions in subsection (3), such as leaseholder-owned buildings. A flat can therefore be outside the higher-risk regime and still be in a relevant building.

What is a qualifying lease?

A qualifying lease is a long lease of a single dwelling in a relevant building that meets four conditions. Under section 119(2), the lease must have a term certain exceeding 21 years, the tenant must be liable to pay a service charge, and it must have been granted before 14 February 2022. At that date the dwelling must also have been a tenant's only or principal home, or a tenant under the lease must have owned no other UK dwelling, or no more than two dwellings apart from their interest under the lease. The Law Society puts that last test as no more than three dwellings in total and GOV.UK as no more than three UK residential properties, and I have used the statutory wording. Under section 119(4), owning includes holding a long lease.

Paragraph 13 of Schedule 8 presumes a lease is a qualifying lease unless the landlord took all reasonable steps (and any prescribed steps) to obtain a certificate and none was provided. In my view, on a sale the conveyancer should see what the landlord has certified and, where a deed of certificate was requested, check that it was completed.

What protection does a qualifying leaseholder have?

Qualifying leaseholders cannot be charged for cladding remediation, and other building safety costs are capped and spread over 10 years, unless an exception applies. GOV.UK's leaseholder protections FAQ, which shows a last-updated date of 18 December 2023, says the protections took effect on 28 June 2022. Leaseholders must pay in full if they are, or are linked to, the developer, or if the landlord's net worth exceeds £2 million per building.

The Law Society's key terms page sets out the non-cladding caps by property value, and GOV.UK agrees on the headline amounts. The bands below follow Schedule 8, where the value is the lease's value at 14 February 2022 and the top two bands run from over £1 million up to £2 million and over £2 million.

Property value	Greater London	Rest of England
Under £175,000	£0	£0
£175,000 to £324,999	£0	£10,000
£325,000 to £1 million (inclusive)	£15,000	£10,000
Over £1 million, up to £2 million	£50,000	£50,000
Over £2 million	£100,000	£100,000

What is the deed of certificate and why does it matter on a sale?

The deed of certificate is the leaseholder's declaration that the lease is a qualifying lease, and the landlord can require it when the leaseholder is selling. GOV.UK's deed of certificate FAQ, last updated on 2 February 2024, says the landlord must ask for it within five days of learning of the sale, must allow at least eight weeks to provide it and a further four weeks if the leaseholder asks, and that a deed must be passed on through the conveyancing. A leaseholder who does not complete it loses the benefit of the qualifying-lease protections. The Law Society's FAQ describes four weeks as adequate time for the landlord to complete the landlord certificate, which is a different certificate, so check the regulations before you advise on timing.

Do remediation contribution orders affect a purchase?

Remediation contribution orders can affect a purchase, because they let the First-tier Tribunal order a landlord, a developer or an associated person to pay for remediation. Under section 124, the Tribunal may make an order on application by an interested person where it is just and equitable. GOV.UK's guide to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 amendments, last updated on 1 November 2024, says that from 31 October 2024 the cost of a wider set of relevant steps, including expert reports and decant accommodation, can be covered by these orders. In my view, a buyer's conveyancer should look for an application or order in the replies to enquiries and consider whether the lender should be told.

Do lenders still require an EWS1 form?

Some lenders still ask for an EWS1, and guidance from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) taking effect on 1 November 2026 narrows when it should be requested. RICS published a second edition of its secured lending valuation guidance for multi-storey buildings with cladding on 12 May 2026. On the EWS1, it says the form should be requested only where there is a clear rationale and that it supports valuation and lending and is not a fire safety certificate. Buyers and their legal advisers should obtain the building's fire risk assessment. A PAS 9980 fire risk appraisal summary can sometimes be relied on instead if it gives a clear remediation outcome and is signed by a suitably qualified professional.

The UK Finance Lenders' Handbook page on external wall fire review still describes the EWS1 process, and the Law Society's guide says the December 2022 statement from six lenders on cladding has effectively been replaced by each lender's own Part 2 requirements. It adds that some lenders no longer require conveyancers to verify certificate status.

What does the Law Society expect a conveyancer to check and report?

The Law Society expects a conveyancer to get the building's height from the owner or managing agent, check enforcement information, leasehold forms and certificates, and report any conflict with the lender's valuation assumptions immediately. Its guide for conveyancers also covers who pays for remediation, qualifying leaseholders and certificates, whether a firm should take on this work, and advice for sellers, buyers and lenders. The guide shows no publication date, its latest dated content is from December 2023, and it refers to April 2024 as a future date.

On the guide itself, the local authority search (CON29) may provide some information, the Leasehold Property Enquiries form (LPE1) should go to the landlord or managing agent for a more definitive position, and the Leasehold Information Form (TA7) bears on whether there is a leaseholder deed of certificate. The guide says you must report to the lender immediately if you are given information that conflicts with its assumptions. On its frequently asked questions page, the Law Society says conveyancers are not expected to confirm the height of a building and that the building owner or managing agent should.

Where can software help, and where can't it?

Software can find, extract and compare the documents on a file, and a person has to decide what a building's status means for the client and the lender. The table shows where I would draw the line. The division in the table is my own reading.

Task	What software can do	What a person must do
Identifying the building	Extract height, storeys and unit count from the lease, replies and valuation	Get the landlord or managing agent to confirm in writing
Testing the lease	Pull the grant date, term and service charge provisions from the lease	Decide whether it is a qualifying lease, including the owner's dwelling count at the qualifying time
Tracking certificates	List which certificates and deeds are on file and which are missing	Decide whether what is on file is complete and valid
Cross-checking replies	Flag inconsistencies between the LPE1, TA7 and search results	Decide whether the inconsistency matters and who must be told
Lender reporting	Draft a note on any conflict with the lender's assumptions	Check it is accurate and report it to the lender

The SRA's warning notice on the misuse of AI, published on 17 August 2026, says the use of AI does not diminish or transfer professional responsibilities. It does not mention conveyancing. In my view, a tool that infers a building's status from its documents should show the source of each figure and require a person to confirm it, because confirmation of the height itself has to come from the landlord or managing agent.

What should a firm do?

A firm should confirm the building's details in writing, record its status, test the lease, collect certificates, check the fire safety evidence, report conflicts to the lender and record who reviewed any software output. These steps are my own synthesis of the sources, and no regulator prescribes them in these words.

Ask the managing agent or landlord to confirm height, storeys and the number of residential units in writing, and keep the answer on the file.
Record whether the building is a relevant building and whether it is a higher-risk building, with the reasons.
Test the seller's lease against the four qualifying lease conditions and record the result.
Collect any landlord certificate and deed of certificate, and chase the ones that are missing.
Ask for the building's fire risk assessment and any EWS1 or PAS 9980 appraisal the lender requires, and look in the replies for any application for a remediation contribution order.
Report to the lender anything that conflicts with its valuation assumptions, as soon as you find it.
If you use software, record who reviewed its output and which source documents they checked.

About the author

Appan Pathmanathan is a solicitor and Chief Operating Officer of Lex Sentinel, which where he works on software for UK conveyancers. He has worked in UK legal practice since 2001, including litigation involving money laundering and fraud, and conveyancing, and has been managing partner of a law firm. He delivers anti-money laundering and compliance training. Connect on LinkedIn.

Sources

Checked on 25 October 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act?

A higher-risk building is a building in England that is at least 18 metres high or has at least seven storeys and contains at least two residential units, under section 65 of the Act, and the Building Safety Regulator oversees it.

What is a qualifying lease?

A long lease of a single dwelling in a relevant building, granted before 14 February 2022, where the tenant pays a service charge and meets the ownership conditions in section 119 of the Act. Qualifying leaseholders cannot be charged for cladding remediation.

Does a conveyancer have to confirm a building's height?

The Law Society says conveyancers are not expected to confirm it. The building owner or managing agent should, so ask them in writing.

Is an EWS1 form still needed?

Some lenders still ask for one. RICS says it should be requested only where there is a clear rationale, and that it is not a fire safety certificate. Check the lender's Part 2 and the RICS guidance taking effect on 1 November 2026.

Can AI decide whether a flat is protected by the Building Safety Act?

In my view, no. The tool can extract dates and figures from the documents, but the status depends on facts held by the landlord and the seller, and a person should confirm it.