Developers have been handed a reprieve after the Building Safety Levy was delayed until Autumn 2026, one year later than was previously planned.
The levy aims to collect over £3.4 billion from developers of residential buildings in a bid to fix unsafe buildings over the course of a decade.
Ian Fletcher, director of policy (real estate), said: “Given the delivery challenges currently being faced by the housing sector, especially in relation to viability and start-on-sites, it is welcome news that the government is delaying the introduction of the Building Safety Levy until the autumn of next year.
“Developers need to be able to cost the levy into projects that will be going through planning now and can only do so now the government has finally published the levy rates.
“Those bodies responsible for administering and collecting the levy also need to be ready and given the issues with both the Building Safety Regulator and with local government re-organisation underway in many areas, it is sensible to delay.
“This levy is going to hugely challenge the viability of various forms of house building in places that need it most and the proposed brownfield rates in low house price areas will have little impact.
“It would have been far better and simpler to have based the levy rates on CIL rates, plus created an exemption for developers of rental accommodation who have no call on the building safety funds, for which it is meant to be recovering the costs of.”
The levy is subject to a public and technical consultation, while regulations are expected to enter parliament later this year.
The Home Builders Federation has previously expressed concerns that the Building Safety Levy could impact the creation of new housing.