“Inadequate” building safety regime needs urgent reform, says CILEX

29 August 2025

Current building safety regulations are inadequate and without urgent reform risk undermining government plans to deliver 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament, says CILEX (Chartered Institute of Legal Executives).

While the overarching aims of the Building Safety Act 2022 are laudable – improving the safety of residential and mixed-use developments – its implementation has created a minefield for conveyancers where the building is more than five storeys or 11 metres tall.

Delays and uncertainty around the implementation and interpretation of the regulations, as well as delays caused by the Building Safety Regulator itself, have led to significant practical barriers for conveyancers – indeed, some have stopped advising on affected transactions altogether.

Responding to a House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee inquiry into the effectiveness of building safety regulations and the role of the Building Safety Regulator, CILEX says these problems mean that even those members who want to advise on, or certify compliance with, affected buildings struggle to secure adequate professional indemnity insurance (PII). This is because insurers see unacceptably high risks in lawyers navigating their clients through such a complex regime.

Such exclusions in PII cover, says CILEX, “present a systemic risk to the market” with conveyancing professionals forced to decline instructions, restricting access to legal support. This in turn delays or prevents the sale and development of affected properties, particularly in the case of multi-unit dwellings, leaving developers and homeowners in limbo.

CILEX is calling for practical and definitive guidance on legal responsibilities under the Building Safety Act 2022 and related instruments. It wants to see the government formally endorse such guidance to provide confidence to stakeholders, enabling better risk management and, ultimately greater availability of PII for conveyancers carrying out this work.

Any accompanying regulatory adjustments should be proportionate and risk-based to allow housing developments and transactions to be carried out safely, without unnecessary barriers.

CILEX President Sara Fowler says: “The government has ambitious targets for the provision of new homes but the current regulatory regime around building safety risks inadvertently supressing supply. While is vital that we ensure all homes are safe, at present the system is unclear, inflexible and fraught with delays.

“A lack of PII cover prevents legal professionals from providing the services needed to enable the development and sale of affected homes and a failure to provide definitive guidance on legal responsibilities risks eroding trust in the legal profession to uphold public safety. We would like to see urgent reforms that remove barriers and provide certainty for the sector.”

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ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Louise Eckersley, Black Letter Communications on 0203 567 1208 or email at [email protected]

Kerry Jack, Black Letter Communications on 07525 756 599 or email at [email protected]

Notes to editors:

CILEX (The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) is one of the three main professional bodies covering the legal profession in England and Wales. The approximately 18,000 -strong membership is made up of CILEX Lawyers, Chartered Legal Executives, paralegals and other legal professionals.

CILEX pioneered the non-university route into law and recently launched the CILEX Professional Qualification (CPQ), a new approach to on-the-job training that marries legal knowledge with the practical skills, behaviours and commercial awareness needed by lawyers in the 2020s.

The CPQ is a progressive qualification framework that creates a workforce of specialist legal professionals, providing a career ladder from Paralegal through to Advanced Paralegal and ultimately full qualification as a CILEX Lawyer. CILEX Lawyers can become partners in law firms, coroners, judges or advocates in open court.

CILEX members come from more diverse backgrounds than other parts of the legal profession:

• 76% of its lawyers are women
• 16% are from ethnic minority backgrounds
  • 8% are Asian or Asian British
  • 5% are Black or Black British
  • 3% are from a mixed ethnic background
• 77% attended state schools
• 63% come from families where neither parent attended university
• Only 3% of its members have a parent who is a lawyer.

CILEX members are regulated through an independent body, CILEx Regulation. It is the only regulator covering paralegals.