Seven years, 13 metres: the facade clock older towers now run on

Nearly 30 reports of falling facade elements land on BCA's desk every year, and have done for three years running. If you run older tall buildings in Singapore, that number is the reason a seven-year inspection clock now sits against your portfolio, and the reason your name is on it when the clock is missed.

The search that brings directors to this page is blunt: what are the penalties for not complying with BCA periodic facade inspection? The honest answer starts with the duty, because the penalty is what follows when the duty is left to drift.

The duty is on the responsible party, not on the consultant

Since 1 January 2022, the Periodic Facade Inspection regime has required facade inspections every seven years for buildings more than 13 metres tall, once they are over 20 years old. Landed houses and temporary buildings are exempt. The responsible parties are named plainly: building owners, Town Councils and management corporations. If you are the director of a portfolio of commercial buildings, that means you.

You must appoint a Competent Person — a Professional Engineer or Registered Architect holding a Certificate in Facade Inspection — who may be assisted by a Facade Inspector. The Competent Person inspects, and where deterioration is detected, proposes appropriate rectification works. You then ensure those works are carried out within the period BCA specifies. The appointment is not the compliance. The rectification is.

BCA's own guidance sets out the regime and the exemptions in full, and it is worth reading once with your asset list open beside it: the new PFI regulations that took effect on 1 January 2022.

What the penalty actually looks like in practice

Directors want a number. The published facts do not give a single headline fine for a missed PFI, so I will not invent one. What the facts do give you is the shape of the exposure, and it is worse than a fixed sum because it compounds.

First, there is the enforcement route. BCA administers the regime under the Building Control Act and its regulations, and a responsible party who fails to appoint a Competent Person, fails to inspect on schedule, or fails to carry out rectification within the specified period is exposed to regulatory action under that framework. The regulations themselves are downloadable from the Singapore Statutes Online site, and your counsel will read them more carefully than any blog can.

Second, there is the safety record. BCA receives nearly 30 reports of falling facade elements each year. When an incident occurs, BCA assesses whether the structural integrity of the building may have contributed, and the maintenance history becomes the first document requested. A missed inspection turns a maintenance question into an enforcement question.

Third, there is the civil and insurance consequence. Under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act, building owners have a duty to ensure exterior features such as claddings, curtain walls and brackets are properly maintained to prevent them falling off. An insurer defending a claim will ask what your inspection cycle was and whether you followed it. A buyer doing diligence will ask the same question, and will price the answer.

The pattern BCA describes — an ageing high-rise stock at risk of facade deterioration — is exactly the pattern that produces these questions. The rationale for the PFI regime sets out why the 20-year and 13-metre thresholds were chosen: 20 years is the typical lifespan of common building materials, and height raises the safety risk.

The evidence your board will ask for

When the board or the audit committee asks where the portfolio stands, three documents answer the question, and nothing else does.

• The appointment record. Which Competent Person was appointed for each building, on what date, and with what scope. BCA publishes a complete list of Competent Persons and Facade Inspectors, so the name on your letter is checkable.
• The inspection report. The Competent Person's full visual inspection and representative hands-on inspection for each elevation, including any use of drones, borescopes or scanning equipment. If drones were used, the inspection should reflect TR78:2020, the technical reference BCA developed for drone-based facade inspection, including the requirement to give building occupants at least three days' notice and to anonymise captured images.
• The rectification trail. What deterioration was found, what works were proposed, and evidence that those works were completed within the period BCA specified. This is the document that separates a director who appointed an inspector from a director who closed the loop.

BCA issues advisories to responsible parties at least one year before a building is due, which means the calendar is knowable in advance. There is no version of this where the deadline arrives as a surprise. If it does, the failure is in the register, not in the regulation.

One practical point worth raising with your asset managers: BCA notes that responsible parties may schedule Repair and Redecoration works or external building maintenance to coincide with the PFI, which may allow for cost savings. That is a budgeting conversation, and it is much easier to have a year out than a month out. The same logic sits behind why the facade clock does not pause for a busy quarter.

Three decisions to take this quarter

One: map the clock. For every building in the portfolio, establish the year it crosses 20 years old, confirm it exceeds 13 metres, and calculate the seven-year inspection date from there. Put the BCA advisory date beside it. If you cannot produce that list today, that is the finding.

Two: confirm the appointment and the scope. Check that each Competent Person holds the Certificate in Facade Inspection and that the engagement letter covers every elevation, not a sample. Confirm who is responsible for the rectification period and how completion will be evidenced. The BCA guidance on owner responsibilities for facade safety is a useful one-page brief for that conversation.

Three: decide the budget line. Inspection fees and rectification costs are separate items, and the second is the one that surprises boards. Ask each Competent Person for an indicative rectification range at appointment, so the number reaches the board before the report does. The seven-year cycle for facades over 20 years old explains how the dates stack across a portfolio.

Your 60-second self-check

• Could you name the Competent Person appointed to every building in your portfolio over 20 years old and more than 13 metres tall, today?
• Could you produce the last inspection report and the rectification completion evidence for each of those buildings within the hour?
• Do you know, to the year, when each building's next PFI falls due and when BCA's advisory is expected?

If any of those produced a pause, the free five-minute Director's Risk Check is built for exactly this. It gives you a control score and the portfolio's breach exposure with official sources attached, so you can walk into the next board or senior management meeting with answers rather than follow-ups. You can also send it to a colleague to complete before the meeting, which is often faster than chasing the register yourself.

Herman's verdict

The penalty for a missed facade inspection is rarely a single fine you can budget for. It is the moment someone asks for the report and you realise the appointment letter was the only document anyone kept.

— Herman