Brocade
TL;DR: On 9 July 2026 the Building Safety Regulator set out five changes to the building assessment certificate process and said initial updated resources were expected from September 2026. September has opened and the announcement page is unchanged. If you are an RTM or RMC director, the practical position is that you should prepare as though nothing changes, because the evidence involved is the same either way.
Check whether your building is higher-risk →
What BSR Said in July
On 9 July 2026 the Building Safety Regulator and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published an announcement on a more proportionate approach to higher-risk building assessments. It set out five things.
Initial updated resources are expected to be available from September 2026.
— Building Safety Regulator and MHCLG, 9 July 2026
The five measures were: simplified assessment criteria, to make expectations clearer for applicants and assessors; clearer technical guidance developed with professional bodies, to clarify what counts as a suitable structural and fire risk assessment; a single point of contact for Principal Accountable Persons responsible for multiple higher-risk buildings; exploring pre-application advice and support with a named BSR contact, designed for resident-managed higher-risk buildings; and the September date above, which attaches to the package rather than to any one item.
Two of those need reading carefully, because both are easy to get wrong in a way that changes what you should expect.
The resident-managed measure is exploratory. The announcement says BSR is exploring the provision of pre-application advice and support with a named contact. That is not a commitment to deliver it, and nothing published since has upgraded it. Anyone telling you BSR promised this and failed to deliver is overstating what the page says.
The single point of contact is not for you, if you run one building. It is described as being for Principal Accountable Persons responsible for multiple higher-risk buildings, with local authorities, housing associations and larger landlords given as the examples. A volunteer-run RMC with a single block sits at the opposite end of the register from that cohort.
What Has Arrived
As of 9 September 2026, the announcement page is unchanged from when it was published. Its dateModified remains 9 July 2026 and the body text is identical to a copy taken on 30 August. No separate guidance covering the simplified assessment criteria has appeared, and the two existing GOV.UK guidance pages on building assessment certificates were both last substantively updated in April 2026, for the annual fee change.
BSR has published this month, but on a different regime. Two releases of building control approval application data went up on 4 September. Building control approval is the gateway process for building work; a building assessment certificate is the assessment of an occupied higher-risk building under Part 4. The September commitment attaches to the second, and those releases do not touch it. The distinction is worth holding onto beyond this post: the two regimes publish separate approval and refusal figures, and those figures count different things.
This is a report of what is on the page today, not a prediction. The phrase from September 2026 describes a window that is open, rather than a deadline that has passed. BSR may still publish before the month is out.
Nothing in this post changes your legal duties. The building assessment certificate process, and the evidence it requires, is the same today as it was on 8 July 2026.
Why This Matters More for Resident-Led Buildings
The reason BSR singled this group out is set out in its own words in the same announcement:
Resident-managed buildings need support to prepare for future inspections while continuing to meet their legal duties. Providing this help will significantly reduce the likelihood of avoidable refusals and could cut associated financial burdens on leaseholders and other residents.
— Building Safety Regulator and MHCLG, 9 July 2026
Two things are conceded there that are worth holding onto. The regulator considers a meaningful share of refusals for this group avoidable, and it links those refusals to costs that fall on leaseholders. That is not an outside critic's framing. It is the regulator's own assessment of the position, published in July and unretracted.
The announcement also refers to granting smaller, volunteer-run resident management companies more time to prepare their evidence.
Our own analysis of BSR's response to FOIBSR-123, covering the full higher-risk building register, sets out how RTM and RMC-led applications have fared against other Principal Accountable Person types in decisions taken so far. That post is the data; this one is about what to do next. One caveat carries across both: those figures describe cases already decided. They are not a forecast for any individual application, and they should not be read as one.
What To Do Now
The useful fact for most readers is that your building has probably not been called in yet. BSR directs Principal Accountable Persons to apply in waves rather than opening the process to everyone at once, and the majority of the register, including most RTM-led buildings, is still in the not-yet-directed group.
That is what makes this month worth using. Whatever BSR does or does not publish arrives before your building is directed to apply.
Read how the assessment process actually works →
Four things worth doing while the position is unresolved:
- Confirm whether your building is in scope at all. At least 18 metres or seven storeys, and at least two residential units. If you are unsure, the building checker walks the criteria.
- Assemble the evidence rather than the application. A building assessment certificate application draws on a structural assessment and a fire risk assessment, the actions arising from them, and the records showing those actions were done. Simplified criteria would change how that material is presented. It would not change what the material is.
- Date and attribute everything. A folder of undated photographs is not an audit trail. An action closed on 3 July, with the installer's certificate and six dated photographs attached to that specific action, is. This is the difference between the two outcomes the regulator described.
- Do not wait for the named contact. It was exploratory in July and remains so. Planning your preparation around a support channel that may not exist is the one response the announcement does not support.
The building assessment certificate guide covers the process end to end, and our analysis of the first wave of assessment outcomes covers what the early decisions looked like.
Questions
Did BSR commit to providing support for resident-managed buildings?
BSR said on 9 July 2026 that it was exploring pre-application advice and support with a named contact for resident-managed higher-risk buildings. The wording is exploratory, not a commitment. The September 2026 date attaches to the wider package of measures, not to that item specifically.
Is the single point of contact for RTM and RMC companies?
No. BSR's announcement describes a single point of contact for Principal Accountable Persons responsible for multiple higher-risk buildings, giving local authorities, housing associations and larger landlords as the examples. A volunteer-run RMC with one building is not in that group.
What should an RTM or RMC director do while waiting?
Prepare on the assumption that nothing changes. The evidence a building assessment certificate application needs is the same evidence a safety case report needs, so the work is not wasted whatever BSR publishes.
Has my building been called in yet?
Most resident-led higher-risk buildings have not. BSR directs buildings to apply in waves rather than opening applications to everyone at once, so the majority of the register is still waiting to be directed.
Further Reading
- How the BSR assessment process works
- Building assessment certificate: the full guide
- BAC refusal rates for RTM and RMC applicants (FOIBSR-123)
- First-wave assessment outcomes
- BSR announcement, 9 July 2026 (GOV.UK)
This post is for informational purposes. For building-specific advice, consult a qualified fire safety professional.