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The Local Government Association broadly supports the government’s package of measures to ensure that the burden of paying to fix historical building safety defects does not fall on leaseholders. However, we continue to have significant concerns about the proposed implementation of the Building Safety Levy.
On 3 October, LGA Chair, Councillor Louise Gittins, wrote to the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt. Hon Angela Rayner MP urging them to reconsider the previous administration’s proposal for local authorities to be the collection agency for the Building Safety Levy (BSL) and instead consider an alternative approach. Our strongly held view is that this approach is a waste of taxpayers’ money when there is a more cost-effective mechanism that already exists that can deliver the financial return required. We have suggested that a more streamlined, cost-efficient approach to raising the additional funds for building safety remediation, which would benefit both central and local government, would be to expand the scope of the Residential Property Developer Tax (RPDT).
This follows representations we made in our response to the 2024 technical consultation on the Building Safety Levy and our response to the 2022 consultation on the same. In March 2023, we also wrote to the then Secretary of State at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Michael Gove and the Chief Secretary of the Treasury. The letter urged them to reconsider their proposal to require 309 local authorities to set up separate, individual processes to act as a collection and administration agency for the Levy.
The response from Michael Gove recognised that requiring local authorities to act as collection agents will mean that there will be many bodies collecting and returning the Levy to government and that this will be an additional burden that will require funding. However, the government’s view at that time remained that local authorities are a clear candidate to act as the collection and administration agent for the Levy.
We are now strongly urging the new Government to reconsider its approach to the Levy implementation.
We will continue to work with DLUHC to ensure that should local authorities be confirmed as the collection agents for the Levy that the process is as streamlined as possible to minimise the administrative burden, and that there is a mechanism for full cost recovery.
Copies of all the letters and the LGA’s response to the two consultations on the Building Safety Levy can be found on this page.
Please contact [email protected] for further information.
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LGA submission to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consultation on the Building Safety Levy
Rather than responding to every question in the consultation, our response focuses primarily on concerns about the potential impact of the tax on affordable housing delivery and where the proposed ‘collection agent’ role should sit.
LGA response to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consultation on the Building Safety Levy
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities held a consultation on the Building Safety Levy between 22 November 2022 and 7 February 2023. The consultation sought views on the design and implementation of the Levy.