Principal Accountable Person Responsibilities Explained

Who Is the Principal Accountable Person?

The principal accountable person (PAP) is the person or organisation that carries the highest level of statutory responsibility for the safety of a higher-risk building under the Building Safety Act 2022. Where a higher-risk building — one over 18 metres or seven storeys with at least two residential units — has more than one accountable person, one of them must be designated as the principal accountable person.

An accountable person is any person who holds a legal interest in, or is responsible for repairing and maintaining, the common parts of a higher-risk building. This typically includes freeholders, head leaseholders, managing agents where they hold a legal interest, and residents' management companies. Where there is only one accountable person, that person automatically holds the PAP role.

What Are the PAP's Duties?

The principal accountable person has a range of statutory duties under the Building Safety Act 2022 that cannot be delegated, though they can be supported by specialist advisers and consultants:

• Register the building with the BSR — all higher-risk buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator. The registration deadline for existing buildings was 1 April 2024. New buildings must be registered before occupation.
• Apply for a building assessment certificate — the PAP must apply to the BSR for a building assessment certificate demonstrating that the building is safe to occupy. The BSR will assess the building safety case as part of this process.
• Prepare and maintain a building safety case — the PAP must prepare a building safety case demonstrating that the risks to residents are being adequately managed. The building safety case includes the fire strategy, structural safety information, external wall assessment, and evidence of ongoing management.
• Establish a residents' engagement strategy — the PAP must establish a strategy for engaging with residents about the safety of their building and for acting on residents' safety concerns.
• Establish a complaints process — the PAP must have a process for residents to raise safety concerns and must respond to those concerns appropriately.
• Maintain a safety case report — the building safety case must be reviewed and updated regularly, and whenever significant changes are made to the building.

The Difference Between the PAP and Other Accountable Persons

Where a building has multiple accountable persons — for example, a head leaseholder responsible for the structure and envelope, and individual floor owners responsible for common parts on their floors — the PAP coordinates the duties of all accountable persons and is the primary point of contact with the Building Safety Regulator.

Other accountable persons have their own duties, including cooperating with the PAP and providing information needed for the building safety case. The PAP cannot escape liability by claiming that another accountable person was responsible for a particular aspect of the building's safety.

Who Becomes the PAP in Practice?

In most privately owned residential buildings, the PAP will be the freeholder — the person or company that owns the freehold interest in the building. For buildings owned by housing associations, the housing association will typically be the PAP. For buildings with complex ownership structures — including buildings with multiple head leaseholders or shared ownership arrangements — establishing who holds the PAP role requires careful legal analysis.

Where a managing agent is appointed to manage the building, the managing agent acts on behalf of the PAP but does not become the PAP unless they hold a qualifying legal interest in the building. The PAP cannot transfer their statutory duties to a managing agent — the managing agent can assist in fulfilling those duties, but ultimate legal responsibility remains with the PAP.

Getting Building Safety Case Support

Preparing a building safety case is a complex exercise that requires contributions from chartered fire engineers, structural engineers, and building safety consultants. Fire Safety Services provides building safety case support including retrospective fire strategies, fire safety case documentation, PAS 9980 FRAEWs, and ongoing building safety case maintenance for higher-risk residential buildings across London and the UK.