Guidance

Medium-Rise Scheme (MRS) pilot opening: leaseholder factsheet

This factsheet explains what the Medium-Rise Scheme (MRS) pilot will do, when you can expect other building owners will be able to apply, and the additional help in place to support leaseholders and residents affected by unsafe external wall systems.

This guidance was withdrawn on

The Medium-Rise Scheme has now been changed to the Cladding Safety Scheme.

Applies to England

The government is committed to ensuring that people are safe in their homes – now and in the future.

Our approach to building safety is underpinned by these principles:

  • We must make industry pay to fix the problems for which it is responsible.
  • We must protect leaseholders.
  • We must restore common sense to the assessment of building safety risks, speeding up fixing the highest risk buildings and stopping buildings being declared unsafe unnecessarily.

We are delivering on these principles so that people feel safe and secure in their homes and that those that are responsible for dangerous buildings pay to fix them. Through the Building Safety Act 2022, we are holding industry to account and have made sure that leaseholders are protected in law from the crippling bills that come with addressing historical safety defects, in homes they have been unable to sell.

The safety of residents across the country is paramount and dangerous external wall systems must be addressed as quickly as possible. To date, we have targeted funding on high-rise buildings with external cladding as they have posed the greatest risk to life.

The Medium-Rise Scheme (MRS) is a new scheme for 11 to 18m blocks that will ensure that, where a responsible developer cannot be identified, access to funding is now available to pay for external wall system repairs and mitigations.

We are launching a pilot opening of the scheme which will be delivered by Homes England, starting with a small group of buildings that have interim or simultaneous evacuation measures in place.

What is the Medium-Rise Scheme (MRS)?

To date 49 developers have committed to remediate life critical fire safety works in buildings over 11 metres that they have played a role in developing or refurbishing over the last 30 years in England. See the list of developers.

Developers making this commitment have also agreed to reimburse any funding received from government remediation programmes in relation to buildings they had a role in developing or refurbishing.

Where the developer of a building cannot be traced or identified, the MRS will provide the funding to remediate or mitigate unsafe external wall systems on buildings between 11 to 18m in height.

The scheme will be funded by the Building Safety Levy. The levy will be charged on new residential developments and raise an additional estimated £3 billion to cover the costs of remediating buildings over 11m tall.

What buildings are in the pilot and why?

The MRS will open via a pilot in November 2022, targeting a small number of buildings that have been identified as in interim or simultaneous evacuation measures and further prioritised based on additional building factors, such as the material on external walls.

Leaseholders in these buildings are facing additional costs from waking watch and raised insurance premiums so we are targeting early support to those most affected. Homes England are actively contacting those buildings who are part of this pilot.

The wider rollout of the MRS to other buildings will commence in 2023. Further details on eligibility and the application process will be announced as soon as possible.

When will the scheme open in full and who can apply?

Applicants eligible for the pilot have been proactively targeted by Homes England.

The scheme will open to other eligible medium-rise buildings from 2023. Further details on eligibility and the application process will be announced as soon as possible.

After the pilot, applications will be welcomed from the ‘Responsible Entity’ of other eligible 11-18m buildings. The Responsible Entity is the organisation that has the legal obligation or right to carry out the remediation works. The Responsible Entity may be the building’s freeholder or head leaseholder, registered provider of social housing, a management company or Right to Manage (RTM) company that has primary responsibility for the repair of the property.

If you are a leaseholder in a property that you think could be eligible, we encourage you to get in touch with your Responsible Entity.

We have made it a requirement for the Responsible Entity of buildings applying and receiving funding via the scheme to provide leaseholders access to regular information and progress updates.

Will this fund protect me from all building safety costs?

Qualifying leaseholders will be protected from all costs related to the remediation of unsafe external wall systems. This means that qualifying leaseholders will not have to pay for the remediation of unsafe external wall systems and will no longer be the first port of call to fix historical building safety defects.

There is a possibility that a leaseholder could face costs for non-cladding defects and interim measures like waking watches.

Where building owners have the means and wealth to pay in full for historical remediation works in their building, they will not be legally able to charge leaseholders any costs for those works.

We have set out in the Building Safety Act that we expect all owners with net worth of over £2 million, per affected building they own, to pay in full for these works. Additionally, where a building requires external cladding to be removed or remediated, the Building Safety Act sets out that a building owner cannot pass on any of these costs to leaseholders in their building.

Where building owners do not have the means to pay for any remaining non-cladding defects, they will be legally able to recoup some costs from leaseholders in their building to help pay for works required.

This will be fixed at no more than £10,000 per leaseholder (or £15,000 in London) for all but the most expensive properties.

In practice, these protections operate as a “waterfall” – with developers paying first, followed by building owners, and capped costs only falling on leaseholders where building owners need support covering the full costs of remediation of a building.

What is a qualifying leaseholder?

You are a qualifying leaseholder if your property is in a building above 11 metres (or 5 storeys) and on 14 February 2022:

  • your property was your main home, or
  • you owned no more than 3 UK residential properties in total.

The amount you can be asked to contribute to fixing other historical building safety defects is firmly capped. Visit the leaseholder protections page for more information.

To help you understand your rights and whether you qualify for the protections, the government has produced a new Leaseholder Protections Checker and detailed guidance for leaseholders. The Checker will use information from leaseholders to work out the maximum amount they may be charged under the new protections in the Building Safety Act.

Where the protections apply, leaseholders need to complete and submit a leaseholder Deed of Certificate to their building owner who will confirm if they have to pay any money or not.

Check if you are a ‘qualifying leaseholder’.

What will the Medium-Rise Scheme (MRS) cover?

We will fund works on eligible medium-rise residential buildings where a responsible developer has not been identified, and where a Fire Risk Appraisal of External Wall construction (FRAEW) following PAS 9980 methodology has recommended action to address life safety fire risks associated with external wall systems.

Applications to the MRS will require a Fire Risk Assessment External Wall (FRAEW), conducted to the PAS 9980 standard, by a suitably competent professional.

This will ensure that recommended action to address life safety fire risks associated with external wall systems are proportionate to risk and will ensure that only necessary works are carried out, minimising disruption for leaseholders and residents.

This will also make homes safe more quickly, restoring confidence to the market and easing the financial stress caused by inflated home insurance premiums and other associated costs for leaseholders who have been unable to sell their homes.

We have worked closely with the major mortgage lenders who have agreed that lending decisions will take account of building safety work that will be carried out by developers and through the government schemes according to this guidance.

The MRS will not fund wider redecoration, renewal, and general maintenance. Full information will be set out in the scheme’s guidance in due course.

What will happen to buildings under 11m?

There is no systemic risk to life in buildings under 11m in height and we remain of the firm view that costly remediation is unlikely to be necessary in the vast majority of cases.

The previous Consolidated Advice Note was often wrongly interpreted and drove a cautious approach to building safety that went beyond what was considered necessary.

Fire risk assessments conducted in accordance with the new guidance PAS 9980 could find that lower-cost mitigations are more appropriate and proportionate.

In rare cases where remediation work is required, we have extended legal rights to redress for poor workmanship through the Building Safety Act 2022; enhancing the ability of building owners and leaseholders to seek compensation for defective work carried out on their properties.

As a leaseholder, how will I know which one my building is eligible for?

You can check our leaseholder eligibility checker to see what support is available.

As a leaseholder, what can I do next?

If you think your building could be eligible for the MRS, ask your Responsible Entity to use this form to tell us about your building, so we can help Homes England understand how many buildings may be eligible to apply for scheme.

How can we contact someone from the department? Will there be an email address?

  • You can direct any queries or concerns through to the department via the usual channels. You can direct any queries or concerns through to the department via the following channel:
  • Email: correspondence@levellingup.gov.uk
  • There will be no public inbox or general enquiries line for buildings that are not in the pilot at this stage of the scheme. Further information will be published on GOV.UK as soon as possible.
Published 30 November 2022