Consultation: The Defective Premises Act (DPA) 1972 extended by the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022

Your views invited.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is seeking industry views from the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) on:

• The Defective Premises Act 1972 (as amended by the Building Safety Act 2022); and
• Section 38 of the Building Act 1984.

Information collated will be provided to policy officials who are reviewing both current and new policy measures in relation to building safety. The CLC’s Building Safety workstream will collate responses and coordinate a short paper summarising views to MHCLG by the end of February 2025.

Background
The Defective Premises Act 1972

• The limitation period for claims to be made for building defects set out in the Defective Premises Act (DPA) 1972 were extended by the Building Safety Act (BSA) 2022.
• Section 135 of the BSA 2022 extended the limitation period for buildings completed before 28 June 2022 from 6 years to 30 years. This means claims which may previously have been out of time, now are not.
• For buildings completed after 28 June 2022, there is now a prospective 15-year limitation period.
• Changes were also brought in under the BSA broadening the scope for liability and potential claims under the DPA. This includes a new right to claim where products fail to comply with relevant requirements, or are inherently defective and the use of that product causes or contributes to the dwelling being unfit for habitation.

Discussion

• The Government is seeking industry views on whether the change made to the DPA has achieved what it set out to achieve, and whether Section 38 should be enacted.
• Initial work was undertaken by the CLC’s Building Safety Regulatory Working Group in 2024. The CLC understands and supports the intention behind both pieces of legislation, so to provide effective redress, protect residents and re-establish confidence in the system. However, there have been some concerns regarding the unintended consequences of both and these have increased over the past few months.

​
Industry views sought
Impact on delivery of government targets - There is a concern that this situation may incentivise businesses to either exit the vital home building sector or necessitate price increases to offset heightened risk.

Concerns in relation to Section 38 include:

• Lack of awareness– Whilst in print for a number of years there is concern that many in the industry are unaware  of the potential requirement and consequences.
• Claims – The principle of strict liability and the subjective nature of the requirement. In addition, the class of persons being able to claim is significantly wider than under typical construction contracts (being building owners, landlords, tenants, occupiers, passers-by and even trespassers).
• Losses - It is generally understood that the losses are likely to be limited to personal injury or property damage and so a claim could not extend to financial losses, however this has not been tested in the Courts.
• Professional Indemnity Insurance - Claims will likely fall outside the scope of traditional PI insurances, which are limited to negligence claims. Larger businesses may be able to pay for enhanced insurance but it is less likely that the supply chain will be able to afford such cover.
• All of this could impact on how the wider market responds – a lack of or more expensive insurance, increased cost to projects, costs to investigate claims and litigation, uninsured claims, tightening of the supply chain and the failure to meet the Government’s 1.5m new homes target.

 
Responses are sought on 6 questions.

Defective Premises Act
The Building Safety Act 2022 extended the limitation period for claims against defective work, to 30 years for retrospective work and 15 years for prospective/future work. These changes were made to provide leaseholders with effective rights of redress for defective work connected to the provision of a dwelling, or work undertaken on a dwelling.

Q1: In your experience, is this how the legislation is being used in practice?
Q2: Have there been any unintended consequences of the legislation?
Q3: Can you provide any examples?

Section 38 of the Building Act 1984
Section 38, if enacted, would provide a statutory right to claim compensation for physical damage (e.g., injury or damage to property) caused by a breach of Building Regulations.

Q4: Would you expect there to be an impact on the industry if this piece of legislation was enacted, given the additional measures already enacted in the Building Safety Act 2022?
Q5: What would the consequences be?
Q6: Can you provide examples of similar liabilities and compensation claims you are already facing and how this might be affected (if at all) by Section 38?

We are holding a workshop to take your views on 11 February 2025 from 12:30-14:00. 

Your voice is important! That is why we hold these interactive workshops at CIAT to enable you to have your say. This consultation is particularly important considering the impact on members and affiliates practising to the public, and CIAT Chartered Practices.

When attending the workshop, we would expect you to have read the above 'Industry views sought' and respective questions. Links to the legislation documentation are below: 

Defective Premises Act 1972
Building Act 1984

If you do not wish to attend the workshop or are unable to but wish to provide your views, please send your comments through to [email protected] by 11 February 2025 and we will ensure that they are included in the discussions and submission.

Schedule of engagement
06/02/25 - Pre reading sent out to those who have registered for the workshop, along with the Zoom link and Miro board link
11/02/25 - Consultation engagement workshop. Interactive discussion and input onto Miro board.
13/02/25 - Final responses collated for response to Government.
14/02/25 - CIAT collective response submitted to CLC

Please complete the expression of interest form here if you would like to attend or contribute.