The article examines financial fragility among private building control firms registered as registered building control approvers (RBCAs), highlighting recent collapses and signs of wider sector stress. It reports that liabilities are rising faster than assets across the group, despite Building Safety Regulator requirements for financial viability, and suggests the current system is under pressure when firms fail.
Stoke-on-Trent council is proposing a major tightening of controls on houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), including an Article 4 Direction, ward-level caps on HMO concentrations, and a city-wide additional licensing scheme for smaller HMOs. The measures are intended to address resident concerns about the local impacts of high HMO density, including noise, waste and parking pressure.
Construction News reports that Sto Ltd has been linked to five High Court cases over historic StoTherm Classic cladding installations, with alleged losses and remediation costs exceeding £100m. The company entered administration before the claims were resolved, and administrators say they are still assessing historical cladding liabilities and the impact on unsecured creditors.
The article reports that the administrator of a collapsed product firm says it is facing £135m of claims, mainly related to cladding. It also notes a High Court order in June requiring the German parent of Sto Ltd to pay Mulalley £1.8m for costs incurred replacing a cladding system at an Essex tower block.
The article examines the Government’s planned cap on most existing residential ground rents in England and Wales, moving them to £250 a year before reducing them to a peppercorn after 40 years under the forthcoming Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill. It argues the reform may ease sales and mortgage issues linked to onerous ground rents, but could also reduce freeholder income, create fairness concerns between leaseholders, and affect valuation and financing assumptions.
Knight Frank argues that the Renters Rights Act is having unintended consequences, with tighter rules and reduced landlord confidence contributing to lower supply and higher advertised rents. The article also links anticipated EPC C requirements from 2030 and tax pressures to further constraints on rental stock, particularly in London markets.
The article argues that the Renters’ Rights Act is already producing unintended consequences, including upward pressure on rents, reduced flexibility for tenants without guarantors, and new risks for landlords trying to sell rental properties. It cites early market data and industry commentary suggesting the reforms are reshaping behaviour before their full effects are understood.
Bath & North East Somerset Council is consulting on a revised housing enforcement and financial penalty policy aimed at landlords, with tougher starting penalties for issues including electrical safety breaches and HMO fire standard failures. The update follows new duties and powers under the Renters Rights Act and includes the possibility of increasing penalties by 50% where aggravating factors are present.
Salford City Council is proposing a citywide licensing scheme for certain Section 257 HMOs following inspections that found widespread non-compliance with expected standards. The council says the measure would improve oversight and drive compliance with building safety requirements, while landlord consultation responses were largely opposed.
The Environment Agency has announced four arrests linked to an ongoing investigation into large-scale illegal waste dumping at Bolton House Road in Wigan, with one suspect also connected to a separate site in Leicestershire. The article says the case involves environmental, fraud and money laundering offences and forms part of a wider government crackdown on waste crime.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation has extended two improvement notices served on Bouygues Travaux Publics SAS and Laing O’Rourke Delivery Ltd, partners in the Bylor joint venture at Hinkley Point C, after a worker was seriously injured by a falling formwork panel. The regulator said the firms had made progress but still need more time to demonstrate full compliance with the notices, which relate to planning, management and monitoring of construction work under CDM 2015.
The guidance explains how planning enforcement applies where a developer is subject to the Responsible Actors Scheme (RAS) prohibitions under the Building Safety (Responsible Actors Scheme and Prohibitions) Regulations 2023. It confirms that prohibited developers may still obtain planning permission, but cannot carry out prohibited major development unless an exception applies, and local planning authorities are expected to check the published prohibited-developers list.
