Estimate Building Safety Levy charges with LABC’s new online calculator

The Building Safety Levy (England) Regulations came into force on 1 October 2026, introducing a new levy for certain types of residential development. The levy has been introduced to fund the remediation of historic building safety and fire defects in residential buildings across England.  

The levy is payable by the named client for new residential buildings in England. Levy information should be submitted with building control applications (either Full Plans applications or Initial and Amendment Notices) and local authorities will collect payments on behalf of HM Government.  

To support developers and clients in submitting levy information, LABC has developed a Building Safety Levy calculator. Developers and clients can enter their project details to produce an estimate of the levy charge before submitting information with their building control application to the local authority.  

The LABC website provides five levy calculators, one for each project type where the levy may be payable: 

• new dwellings 
• new residential building or conversion creating flats 
• new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) or conversion to PBSA 
• additional flats in an existing residential building 
• additional bedspaces in an existing PBSA 

How is the levy charge calculated? 

• Local authority rates are set nationally by the government 
• Chargeable floorspace (GIA) for new residential dwellings or purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) is multiplied by the local authority rate set by the government 
• Developments on previously developed land (brownfield land) qualify for a 50% discount on the standard local authority rate, providing that at least 75% of the planning permission redline boundary is brownfield 
• Levy charge exemptions apply to developments with fewer than 10 residential units or fewer than 30 bedspaces for PBSA, affordable or supported housing and residential developments built by non-profit registered providers 

Use LABC’s Building Safety Levy calculator to enter your project information and generate a downloadable summary of the estimated charge, ready to submit to the local authority.