RESIDENTS are being left in unsafe buildings due to “unacceptable” delays at the regulator set up in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, peers warned today.

The Building Safety Regulator (BSR), which was established under the Building Safety Act 2022, can take more than nine months to make decisions — “significantly longer than the statutory target of 12 weeks,” a Lords committee said.

“Widespread delays” in its approval processes include decisions on remediation of dangerous cladding, which it said was stranding residents “in unsafe buildings for longer.”

The committee was also critical of “costly, delayed application processes for domestic renovations and safety upgrades” for leaseholders and building managers.

The regulator was set up following the deadly 2017 west London fire and is responsible for regulating the safe design, construction and occupation of higher-risk buildings — those at least 18 metres high with two residential units — in England, as well as raising safety standards for all buildings.

The government announced reforms in June to tackle delays to building new high-rise homes, including a fast-track process and investment.

But the Lords report noted that continued challenges include staffing, saying it had heard evidence about a lack of “sufficient skilled building and fire inspectors to staff the BSR” as well as local authority building control bodies and fire and rescue services.

Committee chairwoman Baroness Taylor of Bolton said: “The scale of the delays caused by the BSR has stretched far beyond the regulator’s statutory timelines for building control decisions. This is unacceptable.

“We welcome that the government and the BSR are now acting to try and make practical improvements, but this will not address the anxiety and frustration that residents and companies have experienced.

“It does not improve safety to delay vital remediation and refurbishments, nor to deter the delivery of new housing in high-rise buildings.

“We expect to see further action from the government and the BSR to ensure that construction projects in high-rise buildings can be brought forward more quickly, without compromising on vital safety improvements.”

Peers suggested the delays are slowing progress towards the government’s target of building 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament.

The government has been contacted for comment.