The Building Safety Regulator and the Power to Obtain Injunctive Relief
This year and for the very first time since the enactment of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA), the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) in its (soon-to-be former) capacity as Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has sought, and been granted, an interim injunction in the exercise of its role under the legislation in Health and Safety Executive v Integritas Property Group (IPG) Ltd [2025] EWHC 2613 (TCC).
Pursuant to an urgent application by the HSE made without notice, on 12 August 2025 Mr Justice Freedman granted an interim injunction to prohibit the occupation of student accommodation at Deakin’s Yard, Newcastle-under-Lyme, on the basis that the property was due to be let imminently to students despite the absence of a completion certificate. This followed a history of breaches of building regulations and the issuance of a contravention notice, cancellation notice and stop notice.
Development & Defect History
Building control approval was granted in November 2015 for the development of the 244-room student accommodation. A site inspection carried out in September 2022 revealed numerous serious fire safety defects, including the absence of fire-stopping and cavity barriers, the deterioration of the steel frame, the external walls and escape routes. Meetings were held with IPG’s representatives, but the issues were left unresolved, culminating in a contravention notice being issued in March 2024. Continuing concerns regarding the workmanship, inadequacy of cavity barriers and brickwork starter bars led to building control approval being cancelled and a cancellation notice served in July 2024. This required building work to cease immediately, pending the submission of an application for building control approval to the BSR.
Despite the cancellation notice, the local council discovered construction activity was still taking place on the site in July 2024. A stop notice was issued in October 2024 under s.35C(1)(a) of the Building Act 1984; later that day, IPG submitted a new application for building control approval to the BSR. Between January and April 2025, the BSR sent multiple requests for information to IPG which went unanswered.
In December 2024, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service warned that there was a “risk the pathway taken by this build could seriously undermine the Building Safety Act and all that it was brought in to prevent.” They then raised concerns to the BSR in June 2025 as the accommodation was being advertised on YouTube as being available to let in August 2025, even though a completion certificate had not been issued.
Building Safety Act 2022 s.76 & 77
The BSA confers on the HSE the express power to bring criminal proceedings, and to allow a residential unit to be occupied before a completion certificate is issued constitutes a criminal offence under section 76(2):
“If a relevant residential unit is occupied before a completion certificate relating to a relevant part of the building is issued, the relevant accountable person commits an offence.”
Section 77(1) further provides that:
“The principal accountable person for a higher-risk building commits an offence if the building is occupied but not registered.”
A person guilty of either offence is liable (a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the maximum summary term for either-way offences or a fine (or both); (b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or a fine (or both).
Though the BSA established these new criminal offences, it does not expressly set out that the HSE is entitled to seek injunctive relief to prohibit the occupation of a building; such applications would usually be sought by the local authority.
Escalation to Injunction
A director of IPG was interviewed under caution in July 2025, admitting that some work had taken place following the cancellation notice and confirming that they were aware that it would be a criminal offence to occupy or cause the accommodation to be occupied under the BSA. IPG stated that they did not intend for the accommodation to be occupied before December 2025. However, the HSE produced evidence that the property was being advertised for rent from 15 August 2025, with the adverts listing the monthly rental costs. IPG advised that whilst they had authorised the marketing, it was with the expectation that the relevant certificates would be issued prior to occupation. The HSE contended that this was misleading, as there was no prospect of the relevant building control being approved by this date.
Judgment of Mr Justice Freedman
Given the significant health and safety issues present, Mr Justice Freedman considered that in this situation damages would not be an adequate remedy, applying the principles of American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd. Permission to occupy the accommodation carried with it significant fire safety risks which outweighed any economic detriment to IPG and so taking into account the “balance of convenience” the Court was satisfied that the interim injunction was justified.
In relation to the HSE’s concerns that a criminal offence under the BSA would be committed, Mr Justice Freedman found that there was a “serious arguable case” that there was sufficient cause to seek an injunction where there is “strong evidence” that a breach of criminal law was “imminent unless restrained by the court.”
The injunction was granted on an interim basis, with the Court pointing out that there was a question on jurisdiction to be revisited.
The authority demonstrates the desire to put safety first, going to the heart of the BSA, and the armoury available to the BSR under the legislation.
Building Safety Regulator (Establishment of New Body and Transfer of Functions etc.) Regulations 2026 (“Regulations”)
This case comes ahead of the transfer of the BSR from a division of the HSE to a new independent body corporate from 27 January 2026. Under the new Regulations, references to the HSE in the BSA and Building Act 1984 will be replaced, though anything done by the HSE in its building safety capacity will be treated as done by the BSR, and ongoing legal proceedings can continue under the new body. The BSR will also be required to submit an annual report (as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year) in relation to how it has exercised its functions.
