DEFECTS IN BUILDINGS:An occupier's perspective

Occupiers of buildings must now beware. In the House of Lords decision D & F Estates Ltd and Others v Church Commissioners for England and Others (see Facilities Vol 6/No 9 /September 1988) given on 14 July 1988, the House of Lords considered the extent to which the cost of repairing a defect in a building which was discovered before the causing of any injury or personal damage to other property, was recoverable by a negligence claim by the occupier against the builder. The case concerned the scope of the duty of care which a builder owes to a party such as an occupier in the absence of a contractual link or a uniquely proximate relationship (that is, a relationship so close that it is akin to contract). This article explains the facts of D & F Estates and its implications for the occupiers of buildings.