Building safety levy information in a Gateway 2 application

What changed on 1 October 2026

The Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/1236) added a new item to the information a Gateway 2 application must include: regulation 4(1)(f) for new higher-risk buildings and regulation 12(1)(f) for work to existing ones. It applies where the work provides one or more dwellings, or bedspaces in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), in a residential building. The application must then include the building safety levy information set out in regulation 17A of SI 2023/909.

The BSR collects the information and passes it to the local council or other collecting authority, which decides whether a levy is due and how much. The BSR's guidance says applications without the required levy information can be rejected.

Which applications it applies to

• Submitted on or after 1 October 2026: caught, if the work creates at least one dwelling or PBSA bedspace.
• Submitted before 1 October 2026: not caught. Later variations of those applications, including change control applications, aren't caught either.
• Rejected and resubmitted: an application submitted before 1 October 2026 that is rejected and resubmitted on or after that date is liable for the levy. An invalid or rejected Gateway 2 pack now has a cost beyond the delay.
• Social and supported housing: still has to give the levy information, and evidence the exemption at commencement. The collecting authority then issues a notice of no charge.
• Developments excluded under Schedule 1 of the levy regulations don't need to give levy information at all. These include hospitals, care homes and hospices, hotels and hostels, children's homes, school accommodation, accommodation for victims of domestic abuse, temporary accommodation for homeless people, prisons, almshouses and armed forces accommodation.

What the levy information must include

Regulation 17A(1) lists:

1. a statement of whether the work is development that needs planning permission, or to which section 33 of the Planning Act 2008 applies;
2. where planning permission is needed, its status, from one of these:
   • granted, identifying the permission;
   • applied for but not yet determined, identifying the application;
   • not yet applied for;
   • subject to prior approval, with the requirement satisfied or an application made or not yet made.
   For a permission that allows phased development, this refers to the phase or phases the application covers;
3. a statement of whether the work is, or is expected to be, major residential development, or part of a wider development that is;
4. for each building in the work, the local authority the building is in;
5. the number of dwellings the work will provide;
6. for PBSA, the number of bedspaces;
7. for a variation application, details of any levy determination notice already given.

Where the work is part of a wider development, the planning questions in (a) to (c) refer to the whole development, not just this application.

Work to existing buildings

For work to an existing higher-risk building, the levy information is required in a regulation 12 application where the work provides dwellings or PBSA bedspaces. For category B work, regulation 12(3)(b) asks only for items (1)(a) to (e) of regulation 12, so the levy item isn't on the list. Work that changes the number of flats or residential rooms is category A anyway. See Gateway 2 for work to existing buildings.

Change control applications

Where the original application was made on or after 1 October 2026, a change control application for work that provides dwellings or PBSA bedspaces in a residential building must also include levy information for the updated application (regulation 21(2)(g)). Where the levy charging conditions are met, it must also include levy charging information, such as floorspace figures. If a commencement notice has already been given, the planning statements in 17A(1)(a) and (b) aren't needed again. Change control applications on projects whose application was submitted before 1 October 2026 aren't caught by the levy. More on changes: major and notifiable changes after Gateway 2.

To estimate the amount, use the free building safety levy calculator.

What comes later: commencement and completion

• At commencement, where the levy charging conditions are met, the commencement notice has to give levy charging information (regulation 17B): whether the previous development condition is met, and floorspace for each relevant residential building. Floorspace means the gross internal area of each dwelling, of the PBSA and of residents' communal space.
• Major residential development means 10 or more new dwellings, or 30 or more new PBSA bedspaces. This is judged on the planning permission, not on the building control application. An application for fewer than 10 dwellings is still charged if the planning permission (or planning application) is for major residential development, unless another exemption applies. That is why the application asks about the wider development.
• The levy is charged per square metre of floorspace, at rates set for each local authority area, with a discounted rate for previously developed land. Social and supported housing are among the exemptions (they still give the information, see above), and work by an "exempt person" is exempt.
• The client named on the application pays. Payment is due before completion or occupation, whichever is earlier. If a levy is payable, the BSR can't issue a completion certificate until the collecting authority confirms that it has been paid in full or that a notice of no charge has been issued.

Checking your pack

The free Gateproof checker now looks for a levy statement in regulation 4 applications (new higher-risk buildings), and in regulation 12 applications when you tick the levy option. It reports whether it can find a planning status statement, the major residential development statement, and the local authority and dwelling or bedspace numbers close to the levy wording. It's a keyword screen: it shows that wording is present, not that the statements or figures are right, so check them yourself. The full list of requirements is in the Gateway 2 checklist.

Sources

• The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures) (England) Regulations 2023, SI 2023/909, regulations 4(1)(f), 12(1)(f) and (3), 17A, 17B and 21(2)(g), as amended by SI 2025/1236 and SI 2026/1034 (legislation.gov.uk, checked 14 October 2026).
• MHCLG, "Building Safety Levy: Guidance", sections 1 and 3 (3.3 transitional arrangements, 3.4 levy charging conditions, 3.5 exemptions and Schedule 1), GOV.UK (gov.uk/guidance/building-safety-levy-guidance), section 1 updated 2 July 2026.
• BSR, "Building control approval for higher-risk buildings", GOV.UK, updated 1 October 2026; and "Manage a building control application for a higher-risk building", GOV.UK.

Written on 14 October 2026 and paraphrased from the sources above. Levy rates and exemptions are in the GOV.UK guidance. Check the current text before relying on this page. This is general information, not legal, tax or compliance advice. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.