Developers Sign Gove's Building Safety Contract - But Not All Have Signed

15th March 2023

Thirty-nine of the country's biggest developers have signed the contract providing relief for thousands of leaseholders and tenants.

Michael Gove has secured the signatures of the country's biggest housebuilders on the developer remediation contract, a major step toward ending the building safety scandal.

Thirty-nine developers - including the top ten biggest housebuilders in the UK - all put pen to paper on the legally binding document before yesterday's deadline and irreversibly committed themselves to fix unsafe buildings they developed or refurbished.

Signatories represent a substantial proportion of the housing market, and the signed agreements will raise at least £2 billion for remediation costs.

This will come as a welcome relief for the thousands of innocent leaseholders and tenants whose homes are covered by the contract. Developers will be legally bound to pay to fix their unsafe buildings and eligible developers who fail to sign will not be able to operate freely in the housing market.

Following the contract deadline passing, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove, said:

I have been clear all along - those that are responsible for this crisis must pay. So, I am grateful to those developers who have done the right thing today by signing this legally binding contract. We will be monitoring their progress on remediation very closely, to ensure this work is completed urgently and safely. For those developers that have taken responsibility, today offers the chance for a reset, so we can get on and build more of the safe, decent and affordable homes we so desperately need.

To those developers that have failed to sign the contract without good reason, let me be very clear - we are coming after you. If you do not sign, you will not be able to operate freely in the housing market. Your investors will see that your business model is broken – only responsible developers are welcome here.

But today should not be about developers, or about government. Today is about innocent leaseholders. I want to put on record my apology to all leaseholders for the years of misery and hardship you have endured. You should never have been ignored, asked to pay and let down.

Today marks a turning point – and an important step towards resolving this crisis. There is so much more to do, but I will always act to protect leaseholders and end this injustice.

Signatories are required to fix all life-critical fire-safety defects in all English buildings over 11 metres they had a role in developing or refurbishing. It also requires them to reimburse the taxpayer where government funds have already paid for remediation, with that money being used to make other buildings safe faster.

For developers who have signed, their obligations start immediately. Leaseholders will benefit from a common framework of rights and responsibilities that will get their buildings fixed without them having to pay, and developers will be required to inform residents in affected buildings how they will be meeting these commitments.

The Government will publish further information next week on how developers will be prohibited from carrying out major development or from receiving building control approval unless they sign and adhere to the contract, using Building Safety Act 2022 powers.

Regulations will establish the Responsible Actors Scheme and set out the criteria for eligibility and the conditions of membership. Eligible developers who do not sign the contract will not be able to join the Scheme and will be subject to the prohibitions.

A list of developers who signed and did not sign the contract is published - See below
The government wrote to housebuilders and mixed-use developers on 30 January 2023 saying that it expected them to sign the newly published developer remediation contract by 13 March 2023.

Once signed, the contract requires developers to:

Take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical fire-safety defects arising from design and construction of buildings 11 metres and over in height that they developed or refurbished over the last 30 years in England.
Keep residents in those buildings informed on progress towards meeting this commitment.
Reimburse taxpayers for funding spent on remediating their buildings.
These requirements reflect a public pledge signed by 49 developers last year. Once signed, the contract makes the pledge commitments legally binding.

As of 14 March 2023, 39 developers had signed the contract.

Four developers who signed the pledge were subsequently found not to have developed buildings within the scope of the contract. Those developers have therefore not been required to sign the contract at this stage. They may be asked to sign the contract in future if information emerges indicating that they did in fact develop buildings which are in scope.

The government has made clear that eligible developers who refuse to sign the contract or fail to comply with its terms face significant consequences.

Developers who have signed the contract:

1. Allison Homes Group Limited
2. Barratt Developments PLC
3. Bellway PLC
4. The Berkeley Group Holdings PLC
5. Bewley Group Limited
6. Bloor Investments Limited
7. The British Land Company PLC
8. Cala Group (Holdings) Limited
9. Canary Wharf Group PLC
10. C.G. Fry and Son Limited
11. Churchill Retirement PLC
12. Crest Nicholson Holdings PLC
13. Croudace Homes Group Limited
14. Fairview Holdings Limited
15. Frasers Property (UK) Ltd
16. MJ Gleeson PLC
17. Grosvenor Group Limited
18. Hill Holdings Limited
19. Hopkins Home Group Limited
20. Jelson Holdings Limited
21. Keepmoat Limited
22. Land Securities Group PLC
23. Lifestory Holdings Limited (also covers Anthology Group)
24. McCarthy & Stone Limited
25. Miller Homes Limited
26. Morgan Sindall Group PLC (parent company for Lovell and Muse)
27. Morris Homes Group Limited
28. Persimmon Public Limited Company
29. Redrow PLC
30. Rowland Group Limited
31. Sorbon Group Limited (parent company for Shanly Homes)
32. St Modwen Group Holdings Company Limited
33. Story Homes Limited
34. Strata Homes Group Limited
35. Taylor Wimpey PLC
36. Tilia Homes Limited
37. Vistry Group PLC
38. Weston Group PLC
39. William Davis Homes

The list of signatories will be kept up to date.

Developers who signed the pledge but were subsequently found not to have developed buildings which are within its scope:

1. Davidsons
2. MacTaggart & Mickel
3. Robertson
4. Wain Homes

Developers who have yet to sign the contract:

1. Abbey Developments
2. Avant
3. Ballymore
4. Dandara
5. Emerson Group (Jones Homes)
6. Galliard Homes
7. Inland Homes
8. Lendlease
9. London Square
10. Rydon Homes
11. Telford Homes