Accountable Person vs Principal Accountable Person: What Owners Need to Know

Since the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force, building owners and managers of higher-risk residential buildings have had to get to grips with a set of new legal roles. Two of the most confused are the Accountable Person and the Principal Accountable Person.

They sound similar. They are not the same. Getting this wrong creates personal legal liability. Here is a plain-English guide to both roles.

What is a Higher-Risk Building?

Before getting to the roles, you need to know whether the Building Safety Act applies to your building.

A Higher-Risk Building (HRB) under the BSA 2022 is a building that:

• Is at least 18 metres in height, or has at least 7 storeys; AND
• Contains at least 2 residential units

If your building meets both criteria, it is an HRB. It must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), it must have a compliant safety case, and it must have both an Accountable Person and — if there is more than one — a Principal Accountable Person.

The Accountable Person (AP)

An Accountable Person is any person who holds a legal obligation in relation to the common parts of a higher-risk building. In practice, this typically means:

• The freeholder
• The head leaseholder of the common parts
• A right-to-manage company
• A residents' management company
• A registered provider (housing association) that manages the building

An HRB can have more than one AP — for example, if different parts of a mixed-use building are held by different entities.

Each AP has specific legal duties under the BSA 2022, including:

• Registering the building with the BSR (or ensuring it is registered)
• Applying for a Building Assessment Certificate (BAC)
• Maintaining a Safety Case Report for their part of the building
• Carrying out a Fire Risk Assessment (FRA) for common parts
• Maintaining the Golden Thread of Information
• Implementing a Resident Engagement Strategy (RES)
• Reporting mandatory occurrences to the BSR within 10 days
• Cooperating with other APs (if there is more than one)

The Principal Accountable Person (PAP)

When there is more than one Accountable Person for an HRB, one of them must be designated as the Principal Accountable Person.

The PAP is determined by who holds the legal obligation in relation to the structure and exterior of the building. In most buildings, this is the freeholder.

The PAP has all the same duties as an AP, plus additional responsibilities:

• Registering the building with the BSR — this responsibility falls specifically on the PAP, not on other APs
• Coordinating with other APs — the PAP must ensure all APs are cooperating and that information is shared
• Applying for the Building Assessment Certificate — the BAC application is the PAP's responsibility
• Keeping the Register of Accountable Persons up to date — the PAP maintains the register of all APs for the building and notifies BSR of any changes

If there is only one AP — what then?

If a building has only one entity with obligations over the common parts (e.g. a single freeholder with no other leaseholders holding common part obligations), that entity is both the AP and the PAP. The distinction only matters when there are multiple APs.

What about the Building Safety Manager?

Here is where people often get confused. The original Building Safety Act as drafted included a requirement for a Building Safety Manager (BSM) — a named individual responsible for day-to-day building safety management. This was a distinct role from the AP/PAP.

However, Sections 76–79 of the BSA 2022 (which created the BSM role) were never commenced. The Government decided not to bring the BSM into force, concluding that the role was already covered by the AP/PAP regime.

What this means in practice: there is no legal requirement to appoint a Building Safety Manager under the BSA 2022. The AP/PAP is responsible for managing building safety, either personally or by appointing a competent person or managing agent to assist.

The Building Assessment Certificate — what is it?

Once a building is registered, the PAP must apply for a Building Assessment Certificate (BAC) from the BSR. The BAC is the BSR's assessment that the building's safety case is adequate and that the AP/PAP is meeting their obligations.

The BAC application involves submitting:

• The Safety Case Report
• Evidence of FRA compliance
• Evidence of mandatory occurrence reporting compliance
• Evidence of the Resident Engagement Strategy
• Key Building Information (Schedule 1 of the HRB Regulations)

BSR can refuse to issue a BAC, issue it with conditions, or take enforcement action if compliance is not demonstrated. A building without a BAC is not necessarily in breach, but BSR can require one at any time.

Consequences of getting this wrong

The BSR has significant enforcement powers:

• Improvement notices — requiring specific action within 28 days
• Enforcement notices — formal compliance requirement
• Restriction notices — limiting occupation of the building
• Special measures — BSR appoints a manager to run the building (at the AP/PAP's expense)
• Prosecution — up to 2 years' imprisonment and unlimited fine for the most serious offences