Defective Premises Act

The Building Safety Bill includes amendments to the Defective Premises Act (DPA) which will have significant implications for anyone carrying out work in connection with the provision of a dwelling.

The current legislation enables anyone who subsequently has a legal or equitable interest in a property to bring a claim for defective work, where the work renders the dwelling uninhabitable within six years of the building being constructed. This time limit is set to be amended to 15 years and will also cover refurbishment and remediation work and will be applied retrospectively to buildings that have already been completed. Liability under the DPA is strict: it is not possible to argue, as a defence, that it was reasonable to believe that the work was adequate nor is it possible to contract out of the DPA by agreement.
 
All the latest building safety news, including an update on the remediation of unsafe cladding, can be found in Build UK’s Grenfell update.

For more inforamtion please contact info@cfa.org.uk