On 28th June the first of the provisions of the Building Safety Act 2022 came into force. Arising out of the Grenfell tragedy, the Act aims to address and improve building safety in a number of ways, with particular emphasis on high-rise buildings, or “higher-risk”, as the Act has it.
Higher-risk buildings are those that are 18m or more or 7 storeys high from the ground, and which have at least two residential units, but the new buildings regulator can ask the Secretary of State to include other buildings in the future. The Act’s primary purpose is to reduce building safety risk which it defines as the spread if fire, structural failure, or some other problem prescribed in the future by any secondary legislation, and it focuses on major incidents, by which it means a significant number of deaths or serious injury to a significant number of people. There is a particular emphasis on the safety of disabled people.
The first part of the Act to come into force is specifically aimed at improving the ability of owners of buildings with safety-related defects to claim their losses from the original builders. In English law the maximum time in which a claim can be brought is 12 years from the date of the breach of contract – and if the contract was only signed under hand then the limitation cuts off after 6 years. Clearly lots of the defects that are now being discovered pre-date that, leaving householders to pick up the bills. In a seismic change the new Act has extended the period for 30 years for those claims arising before 28 June 2022, and to 15 years for those arising from now on.
This means that those people who have discovered safety defects in their buildings can now sue the companies responsible for them – and there are additional provisions to ensure that if such companies are being wound up the insolvency practitioners have to make allowance for paying for these losses. Whilst the Building Safety Fund, and now the developers, are required to pay for remedial works to ensure the future safety of residents, there are costs already occurred that can only now be recovered because of when the defective works were built.
The new limitation periods also apply to construction products. Specifically targeted are cladding products, but also covered are persons who fail to comply with product requirements, marketers or suppliers of products that make a misleading statement, manufacturers of products that are inherently defective, or those that cause dwellings to be unfit for habitation. Responsible parties are liable to persons with an interest in the building for personal injury, damage to property and economic loss.
The content of this article is for general information only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. If you require any further information in relation to this article please contact the author in the first instance. Law covered as at July 2022.