{"id":68414,"date":"2026-02-05T09:46:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citylets.co.uk\/blog\/?p=68414"},"modified":"2026-02-05T09:46:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:46:51","slug":"the-scottish-government-needs-to-ensure-the-building-safety-levy-doesnt-undermine-efforts-to-increase-housing-supply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citylets.co.uk\/blog\/the-scottish-government-needs-to-ensure-the-building-safety-levy-doesnt-undermine-efforts-to-increase-housing-supply\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scottish Government Needs to Ensure the Building Safety Levy\u00a0Doesn\u2019t\u00a0Undermine Efforts to Increase Housing Supply\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

With \u2018More Homes Scotland\u2019 announced on 22 January, the Scottish Government will need to avoid introducing legislation that would be\u00a0a\u00a0barrier to the delivery of new homes. With the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill having\u00a0passed Stage 1<\/a>\u00a0of the Scottish Parliament\u2019s legislative process on 8 January 2026, Propertymark continues to highlight that introducing an\u00a0additional\u00a0blanket charge on new builds would undermine efforts to address what First Minister called \u201ca housing emergency\u201d in (last week\u2019s) announcement.<\/p>\n

The proposed levy would be a devolved tax paid by Scottish developers of newly built residential properties and mirrors the UK Government\u2019s Building Safety Levy for England, which was introduced in response to the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.<\/p>\n

During Stage 1 of the Bill, Ivan McKee, Scotland\u2019s Minister for Public Finance, stated that Grenfell \u201chighlighted the need to tackle unsafe cladding throughout the UK\u201d and added that the funding raised would be \u201cvital\u201d in delivering the cladding remediation programme.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To allow the construction industry time to prepare, the Scottish Government has confirmed that\u00a0the levy<\/a>\u00a0would be introduced from April 2028, subject to the Bill receiving parliamentary approval.<\/p>\n

The levy is expected to raise between \u00a3360 million and \u00a3450 million over 15 years to fund\u00a0Scotland\u2019s Cladding Remediation Programme<\/a>, which aims to complete essential remedial works on residential buildings over 11 metres in height.<\/p>\n

Developers would\u00a0be required\u00a0to pay the levy when constructing new homes, based on the size of the floorspace of the new dwelling. There will be some exemptions for social housing, affordable homes, all buildings on Scottish islands and pre-existing residences where there is no change to the number of residential units. Following the submission of a detailed response to the Scottish Parliament\u2019s Finance and Public Administration Committee,\u00a0Propertymark reiterated its support<\/a>\u00a0for improving building safety but warned that unfairly charging developers risks\u00a0exacerbating\u00a0Scotland\u2019s ongoing housing emergency.<\/p>\n

Risk of undermining housing supply during a housing emergency<\/h2>\n

Recent analysis<\/a>\u00a0shows that there are fewer properties available to rent in 14 Scottish local authority areas compared with 2022, despite the introduction of rent controls. The Highlands has been the worst-affected rural council, with 1,000 fewer homes listed for rent, while Argyll and Bute saw a 24 per cent reduction in rental properties since 2024. While efforts to build new homes are very welcome, the money raised by the levy could directly be used to fund the delivery of new homes.<\/p>\n

Propertymark has also cautioned that applying a\u00a0blanket levy to all developers<\/a>, including those with no history of installing unsafe\u00a0cladding,\u00a0fails\u00a0to\u00a0hold those who\u00a0were responsible for\u00a0the cladding crisis to account.<\/p>\n

Since the levy\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0account for the size of the developer, many\u00a0small-\u00a0to medium-sized developers are less able to absorb\u00a0additional\u00a0costs, thus are likely to be disproportionately\u00a0impacted\u00a0when compared to larger scale companies.<\/p>\n

To accelerate remediation efforts, Propertymark argues that the levy should instead be targeted at those responsible for installing unsafe cladding. This approach would prevent the entire sector from being penalised which will impede efforts to accelerate house building, and ensure affected residents receive support more quickly. Where a solvent building owner or developer cannot be\u00a0identified, other responsible parties, such as manufacturers or contractors involved in the cladding supply chain, or the Scottish Government should contribute to remediation costs.<\/p>\n

Additional\u00a0proposals from the property professional body include a building-specific fine applied to those responsible for installing flammable cladding, which could be lifted once remediation is completed to\u00a0an appropriate standard.<\/p>\n

Propertymark\u2019s\u00a0Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024\u00a0fact sheet<\/a>\u00a0provides members with an overview of current cladding legislation.<\/p>\n

To access\u00a0Propertymark\u2019s\u00a0fact sheets and learn more about the benefits of membership, visit:\u00a0https:\/\/www.propertymark.co.uk\/membership\/join.htmlScottish<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With \u2018More Homes Scotland\u2019 announced on 22 January, the Scottish Government will need to avoid introducing legislation that would be\u00a0a\u00a0barrier to the delivery of new homes. With the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill having\u00a0passed Stage 1\u00a0of the Scottish Parliament\u2019s legislative process on 8 January 2026, Propertymark continues to highlight that introducing an\u00a0additional\u00a0blanket charge on new …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[176,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation","category-property","legislation","property"],"yoast_head":"\r\nThe Scottish Government Needs to Ensure the Building Safety Levy\u00a0Doesn\u2019t\u00a0Undermine Efforts to Increase Housing Supply\u00a0 - 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