Once people live in a high-rise residential building, the Building Safety Act puts its duties on the accountable persons, and one of them leads as the principal accountable person. Here's who they are, what they must do, and where managing agents and the fire safety responsible person fit, summarised from the Building Safety Regulator's guidance.
Before you rely on this: it's a plain-English summary of Building Safety Regulator guidance as it stood in October 2026, and it applies to England. It isn't legal advice. The official pages are listed at the end.
The accountable person at a glance
| Question | In short |
|---|---|
| Who is an accountable person? | The organisation or individual that owns the common parts of the building, or has a legal obligation to repair them |
| Who is the principal accountable person? | The only accountable person, or where there are several, the one who owns or must repair the structure and exterior |
| Which buildings? | Occupied high-rise residential buildings: at least 7 storeys or 18 metres high, with at least 2 residential units |
| Can they delegate? | They can employ someone, such as a managing agent, to carry out duties, but not hand over the legal responsibility |
| Competence | They must have the relevant competence, or appoint someone who does |
| Where it applies | England |
Who counts as an accountable person
An accountable person is the organisation or individual that owns the common parts of a building, or has a legal obligation to repair them: the structure and exterior, corridors, lobbies and staircases. Depending on the building, that can be a freeholder, landlord, management company, resident management company, right to manage company or commonhold association.
A building can have more than one accountable person, each responsible for the parts they own or must repair. The duties apply to occupied high-rise residential buildings, the buildings defined in what counts as a higher-risk building.
The principal accountable person
Every building has one principal accountable person (PAP). If there's only one accountable person, they're the PAP. If there are several, it's the one who owns, or must repair, the structure and exterior of the building. The PAP leads, and takes on extra duties.
What accountable persons must do
The Building Safety Regulator's guidance says accountable persons must:
- report safety occurrences to the Building Safety Regulator, on the mandatory occurrence reporting system operated by the PAP
- carry out duties relating to the resident engagement strategy
- keep certain information about the building, known as the golden thread of information
- provide building information to the people and organisations entitled to it.
What the principal accountable person must do
The PAP must also, among other things:
- prepare and update the building's safety case report
- report safety occurrences to the regulator, and operate a mandatory occurrence reporting system
- operate a complaints system
- display required information and documentation clearly within the building
- prepare and update a resident engagement strategy
- apply for a building assessment certificate when the regulator says to
- provide building information to the people and organisations entitled to it.
The PAP must also check that every accountable person has identified and assessed the fire and structural risks in their parts of the building, taken steps to prevent incidents, and put measures in place to lessen the severity of any incident. Registering the building, with its key building information, comes before anyone lives there.
Managing agents, and the old building safety manager
The guidance says accountable persons and the PAP "can employ an organisation or individual, like a managing agent, to carry out duties on their behalf", but they "cannot delegate their legal obligations to others". A management company working under a contract to maintain a building isn't an accountable person; one that a lease requires to repair the common parts is the accountable person for those parts.
Earlier drafts of the Act required a building safety manager to do much of this day to day. That requirement was removed in 2022, which is explained in what happened to the building safety manager role.
Accountable person or responsible person?
The accountable person comes from the Building Safety Act and deals with the building safety risks of fire spread and structural failure. The responsible person comes from the Fire Safety Order and deals with fire risk in the parts of the building it applies to, such as the common parts of a block of flats. They're separate legal roles with separate duties, even where one organisation holds both. The responsible person's side is covered in who is responsible for a fire risk assessment, and the assessment has to be written down, which is where a free fire risk assessment template and the list of what to record are useful.
Competence
The guidance says accountable persons and PAPs must either have the relevant competence or appoint someone with it. For individuals, that means the right skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours to carry out their duties. For organisations, it means the right organisational capability.
Where Building Search fits
Many of these duties depend on finding a building's information quickly, whether for the safety case, a resident's request or the regulator. Building Search makes a building's documents searchable and answers a plain question with the document and exact page the answer came from. It doesn't carry out any duty for you or make anyone compliant. You can try the interactive demo, which uses fictional sample data.
Looking after several buildings' files? I'll send you a free one-page plan showing what a search page for one of your buildings would look like and what it would cost. See how Building Search works.
Questions people actually ask
Who is the accountable person under the Building Safety Act?
The organisation or individual that owns the common parts of a high-rise residential building, or has a legal obligation to repair them. That can be a freeholder, landlord, management company, resident management company, right to manage company or commonhold association.
What is a principal accountable person?
The accountable person who leads. If there's only one accountable person, they're the principal accountable person. If there are several, it's the one who owns, or must repair, the structure and exterior.
Can a managing agent be the accountable person?
A managing agent can carry out duties for the accountable person, but the legal responsibility stays with the accountable person. A management company that a lease requires to repair the common parts is itself the accountable person for those parts.
Is the accountable person the same as the responsible person?
No. The accountable person comes from the Building Safety Act and the responsible person from the Fire Safety Order. They're separate legal roles with separate duties, even where one organisation holds both.
Official guidance
- Safety in high-rise residential buildings: accountable persons (Building Safety Regulator, GOV.UK)
- The Building Safety Act (GOV.UK)
- Building Safety Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)
