Building Safety Levy

We are proposing a new tax called the Scottish Building Safety Levy. This will be a national devolved tax paid for by developers of new-build residential properties, equivalent to the UK Government’s Building Safety Levy for England.

We have introduced the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament. If Parliament passes the Bill, we plan to introduce the Levy in April 2028. This will give industry time to prepare.

What the money will be used for

We would expect the Levy to raise between £360 million and £450 million. This will provide funding for Scotland’s Cladding Remediation Programme.

Find out more about the Cladding Remediation Programme.

Who will pay

Under our plans, developers would pay the Levy when they build:

new homes to sell
student flats and build-to-rent properties
homes created from converting other buildings

Some builds would not have to pay, including social housing, affordable housing, and homes built on islands. We also intend that developers be able to build up to 19 homes each year without paying the Levy.

Developers would need to work out what they owe and send a tax return to Revenue Scotland.

How we got here

In 2024, we asked for views on our plans for the Levy. Before that, we worked with the UK Government to get the powers we needed to create a Scottish Levy. Read the joint consultation response on GOV.UK.

We have also set up an Expert Advisory Group to give us advice on the Levy.

Impact assessments

We looked at how the Levy might affect different groups. You can read our assessments on:

Progress in Parliament

We introduced the Building Safety Levy (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament in June 2025. The Finance and Public Administration Committee is leading on the Bill.

The Bill passed Stage 1 on 8 January 2026.

Information