The Defective Premises (Northern Ireland) Act 2024 (the "DPA") received Royal Assent in early November 204. The DPA was introduced in an attempt to bring an end the "unfair disparity" between the building safety provisions in place in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. The new legislation aims to provide more protection to the owners and tenants of defective properties, similar to those contained within the Building Safety Act 2022 ("BSA").
Duties of Care
In Northern Ireland there has always been an obligation to carry out works in a workmanlike and professional manner with proper materials so that a dwelling is fit for habitation under the Defective Premises (Northern Ireland) Order 1975. The DPA extends this duty of care to encompass works occurring on existing buildings, not just work done in relation the provision of a new dwelling. This change will affect any contractor or consultant carrying out refurbishment works on existing buildings.
This provision almost directly reflects the wording contained with Section 2A of the Defective Premises Act 1972 (introduced by the BSA), thus aligning Northern Ireland with the obligations already in place in England and Wales. We have previously discussed these changes here
Limitation Period
Currently the limitation period for bringing a claim in Northern Ireland is 6 years. Like in England and Wales, this short limitation was causing issues for owners and tenants of defective buildings who were discovering defects many years after the completion of their home – it simply wasn't possible for them to bring a claim.
The DPA seeks to rectify this unfairness, with the limitation for bringing a claim for defective works extending to 15 years prospectively and 30 years retrospectively, mirroring the timescales contained within Section 4A of the Limitation Act 1980 (brought into fore by Section 135 of BSA). However, whilst it does provide owners and tenants with some protections, there are still a number of issues left open by the DPA. These include:
- Unlike the BSA the DPA does not contain provisions which retrospectively holds suppliers or manufacturers of defective materials accountable. This is a concern for contractors who will be unable to recover costs from suppliers or manufacturers who have provided them with defective materials which rendered the property uninhabitable.
- Much like Scotland, Northern Ireland has a smaller construction market when compared with England and Wales. The obligations introduced by the DPA mean that smaller contractors and consultants may be exposed to large risks and liabilities sinking them into financial difficulties specifically when it comes to historic claims.
- The DPA also does not prevent developers from limiting their liability by establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle to deliver developments, which the BSA does under Section 132. Unlike the BSA the court has no power to extend the liabilities of one corporate body to another associated company. As a result, owners and tenants of defective buildings may have no right of recourse against developers who used an SPV to develop a property and then closed down the SPV.
Although the DPA attempts to the lessen the gap between Northern Ireland and England and Wales in terms of protections for owners and tenants of defective property owners there is still some way to go to close the gap between the two jurisdictions in relation building safety in general. Only time will tell if these gaps are filled.
For more information about the changes coming in under the Building Safety Act visit our Building & Fire Safety Hub.
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