Building Safety Levy is an Anti-Growth Policy
March 25, 2025
The Government has released its response to the Building Safety Levy (BSL) consultation, confirming the taxation levels it seeks to impose across the development industry.
Richard Beresford, Chief Executive of the National Federation of Builders, said:
“The Building Safety Levy is anti-growth, anti-SME policy, which will weaken the housebuilding industry and put the Government’s 1.5 million home promise in further jeopardy. It rejects the polluter pays principle, targeting innocent housebuilders, and risking unintended consequences, such as shrinking the size of new build homes.
The industry already knew that the Conservative government had chosen to tax innocent housebuilders while letting guilty parties off the hook. We had hoped that Labour, the Government of growth, would reject such a bad policy that hinders industry growth, but instead it choose proportionate unfairness.”
The BSL will come into force in Autumn 2026 with levy rates charged per square-metre of chargeable floorspace for works on non-previously developed land (PDL) and works on previously developed land. PDL rates are discounted by 50%.
Rates are highest in areas with the most expensive housing and lowest in the least expensive.
Several BSL exemptions will be in place, including for government funded projects and sites of fewer than ten homes.
Rico Wojtulewicz, Head of Policy and Market Insight at the NFB and House Builders Association (HBA), commented:
“Small builders came to the Government with a solution that shared remediation costs across all accountable industries, as well as delivered a ‘polluters should pay more’ principle. It is devastating news that a fairer form of unfairness has been rejected.
Our solution would raise funds more quickly, therefore freeing leaseholders of their nightmare. Would not disproportionately target innocent builders and building companies yet to be created. Ensured that SMEs, who train 73% of our apprentices, offer the most secure employment, who were not involved in various industry scandals, and who build the social and affordable housing the Government is basing its reputation on, were not being targeted for the sake of political expedience.”
You May Also Enjoy
UK house prices sit above pandemic market peak
The latest research from Yopa has found that, six years on from the first Covid lockdown (23rd March 2020), the average UK house price remains 1.7% above the peak reached during the pandemic property market boom, despite the more subdued market conditions seen since. Yopa analysed* average house price data at three key points in…
Read More 
Energy efficient upgrades now an essential home feature
Savers with student loans put away £2k less per year towards a house deposit than those without 44 per cent of those with student loans say the debt makes it harder to be financially stable, with 41 per cent saying their repayments make it harder to save for a home Barclays Mortgage data shows the…
Read More 
Inverclyde crowned Britain’s most affordable place for first-time buyers
Inverclyde, Burnley and Hartlepool amongst most affordable areas in Britain Kensington and Chelsea, Oxford and Cambridge least affordable North has smallest gap between least and most affordable areas in the region while London has largest Around 70% of local authorities have seen an improvement in affordability over the last year, with Islington seeing biggest improvement…
Read More 
Fewer than 3% of London rental homes available
The latest research from Benham and Reeves has found that fewer than 3% of London’s private rental homes are currently available to tenants, highlighting the severe lack of supply across the capital at a time when further legislative changes could place additional strain on supply within the sector. Benham and Reeves analysed current rental market…
Read More 
Cottagecore Design
The term “cottagecore design” has risen by 100% since November 2025, with the term “cottagecore” itself now getting nearly 10,000 searches (9,900), according to Traditional Beams. Cottagecore refers to an aesthetic that romanticises simple, rural and sustainable living, popularised on platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok, and embraces a cosy and pastoral lifestyle. However, while…
Read More 
Property specialist predicts spike in traditional interiors after Bridgerton hit
With Bridgerton Season 4 debuting with an impressive 39.7 million views in its first week on Netflix, property specialist predicts that traditional interiors will be the biggest renovation trend of 2026. Mitchell Martyn, Property Finance Specialist at Pure Property Finance, predicts that the appetite for traditional, heritage-inspired interiors is set to surge once again. As…
Read More