Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024

Part 4 Engagement with owners and occupiers

22 Pre-assessment engagement

(1) The Scottish Ministers must, where a relevant assessment arranged by them under Chapter 1 of Part 2 in relation to a building involves entry on premises, use their best endeavours to ensure that, before the first premises are entered for the purposes of the arrangement, the persons mentioned in subsection (2) are—

(a) informed that the assessment is to be carried out, and

(b) given a reasonable opportunity to put questions about the assessment to a person appointed for that purpose by the Scottish Ministers.

(2) The persons are—

(a) where the assessment is arranged by the Scottish Ministers in order to enable a relevant assessment arranged by another person to be completed, the owners and occupiers of premises that—

(i) form part of the building to which the assessment relates, and

(ii) are to be entered pursuant to the arrangement made by the Scottish Ministers,

(b) otherwise, the owners and occupiers of the building to which the assessment relates.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Scottish Ministers’ duty under that subsection is to be regarded as fulfilled if the person carrying out the assessment arranged by the Scottish Ministers has a duty, under an agreement with the Scottish Ministers, to use the person’s best endeavours to ensure that the persons mentioned in subsection (2) are—

(a) informed that the assessment is to be carried out, and

(b) given a reasonable opportunity to put questions about the assessment to a person appointed for that purpose by the person carrying out the assessment.

(4) In this section and sections 23 and 24, “relevant assessment” means—

(a) a single-building assessment, or

(b) an additional work assessment.

23 Post-assessment engagement: reports

(1) The Scottish Ministers must, where they arranged a relevant assessment in relation to a building under Chapter 1 of Part 2, use their best endeavours to ensure that the persons mentioned in subsection (2) are—

(a) so far as practicable, informed, in plain language, of the conclusions contained in the report of the assessment, and

(b) given a reasonable opportunity to put questions about the report to a person appointed for that purpose by the Scottish Ministers.

(2) The persons are—

(a) where the assessment was arranged by the Scottish Ministers in order to enable a relevant assessment arranged by another person to be completed, the owners and occupiers of premises that—

(i) form part of the building to which the assessment related, and

(ii) were entered pursuant to the arrangement made by the Scottish Ministers,

(b) otherwise, the owners and occupiers of the building to which the assessment related.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Scottish Ministers’ duty under that subsection is to be regarded as fulfilled if the person who carried out the assessment has a duty, under an agreement with the Scottish Ministers, to use the person’s best endeavours to ensure that the persons mentioned in subsection (2) are—

(a) so far as practicable, informed, in plain language, of the conclusions contained in the report of the assessment, and

(b) given a reasonable opportunity to put questions about the report to a person appointed for that purpose by the person who carried out the assessment.

24 Post-assessment engagement: remediation work

(1) The Scottish Ministers must, where they arrange remediation work in relation to a building under Chapter 1 of Part 2, use their best endeavours to ensure that the persons mentioned in subsection (2) are—

(a) before the remediation work begins—

(i) informed that the work is to be carried out, and

(ii) given a reasonable opportunity to put questions about the work to a person appointed for that purpose by the Scottish Ministers,

(b) while the remediation work is carried out—

(i) kept informed, so far as is practicable, about the progress of the work, and

(ii) given a reasonable opportunity to put questions about the progress of the work to a person appointed for the purpose by the Scottish Ministers,

(c) as soon as practicable after the building’s entry in the cladding assurance register is amended to record the date on which the Sottish Ministers were satisfied that the work had been completed, informed of that fact.

(2) The persons are—

(a) where the work is arranged by the Scottish Ministers in order to enable remediation work arranged by another person to be completed, the owners and occupiers of premises that—

(i) form part of the building to which the relevant assessment that identified the work as being needed related, and

(ii) are to be entered pursuant to the arrangement made by the Scottish Ministers,

(b) otherwise, the owners and occupiers of the building to which the relevant assessment that identified the work as being needed related.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Scottish Ministers’ duty under that subsection is to be regarded as fulfilled if the person carrying out the work arranged by the Scottish Ministers has a duty, under an agreement with the Scottish Ministers, to use the person’s best endeavours to ensure that the persons mentioned in subsection (2) are—

(a) informed that the work is to be carried out, and

(b) given a reasonable opportunity to put questions about the work to a person appointed for that purpose by the person carrying out the assessment.

(4) Where remediation work is arranged by the Scottish Ministers under section 8, the Scottish Ministers need comply with the duties imposed by subsection (1)(a) and (b) only to the extent that is practicable in the circumstances.

(5) In this section, “remediation work” means work identified in a single-building assessment report or an additional work assessment report as being needed to eliminate or mitigate risks to human life that are (directly or indirectly) created or exacerbated by a building’s external wall cladding system.