18 Deferred

Social housing providers must be exempt from the Building Safety Levy and any other taxes...

Conclusion
Social housing providers must be exempt from the Building Safety Levy and any other taxes or levies connected to building safety remediation. Social housing providers must be exempt from requirements to fund and undertake necessary remediation on buildings they played a role in developing where they were the customer of a developer.
Government Response Summary
The government is considering an exemption from the levy for affordable housing and will consult on the levy, with possible exemptions to be considered as part of that consultation before a final decision is made.
Paragraph Reference
50
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government Deferred
We are already considering an exemption from the levy for affordable housing as a whole, which includes social housing, housing for rent or sale at least 20% below market rent or sale rates, shared ownership, and rent to buy. This is because the Government recognises that applying a levy to affordable housing would increase the cost of developing affordable housing and is therefore likely to disincentivise supply. We will consult on the levy; possible exemptions will be considered as part of that consultation and a final decision will be made once it is complete and responses have been analysed. Where residential property is developed by a non-profit registered provider of social housing or its subsidiaries, this will be out of scope of the Residential Property Developer Tax, which is based on profits. Social housing providers that are freeholders/landlords will be required to meet all non-cladding remediation costs where they are – or have links to – the developer, or where costs exceed the leaseholder cap. It is not our default expectation that they will have to fund in-scope remediation works from their own resources; we want them to be able to pursue those responsible for defective work. That is why we are bringing forward an ambitious toolkit of measures to allow those responsible for defective work to be pursued, including a cause of action relating to product manufacturers and the provisions enabling associated companies to be sued.
Addressee Bodies
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Timeline
Recommendation age 4.2 yrs
Report published 11 Mar 2022