Sparked by the evacuation of 91 Victoria Square apartments in 2008, the recent passage of the Defective Premises Act (Northern Ireland) 2024 provides residents of Northern Ireland with some of the same protections for defective dwellings as those effected in England and Wales under the Building Safety Act 2022.
Previously, Northern Irish citizens received only six years of protection relating to defective buildings, but this Act extends that period to 15 or 30 years depending on the circumstances.
The Act also aims to align Northern Ireland’s legal position with England and Wales, but not all measures in place there are being introduced in Northern Ireland which has resulted in an influx of concerns.
Many professional service providers within Northern Ireland do not operate very large companies and are mainly micro-SMEs or sole practitioners, who will not have the capital to fund uninsured losses for remedial work over which they had no influence or control, nor the cost of dealing with claims.
The NI construction industry is much smaller than England and Wales, consisting of many small builders and small professional practices, such as architects and building surveyors. They will be exposed to the same risks that the much larger construction industry across the water regularly shoulders.
Under the Act, carrying out ‘work’ means building or design work, and involves contractors and designers. This does not include suppliers or manufacturers of defective materials (such as mica blocks) as they do not carry out ‘work’.
This is problematic, as materials that can be found in concrete blocks, including mica and pyrite, have led to severe structural problems in thousands of homes in both the Republic and Northern Ireland, destroying several domestic premises.
In due course, a wider package of legislation in Northern Ireland will be needed, like the Building Safety Act 2022 in England and Wales, but, for now, ministers have stated that the Defective Premises Act has been introduced to address establishing parity on the period of liability.
The residents’ appeal of the limitation point on the Victoria Square case will be heard by the high court in mid-December 2024.
It seems likely that the introduction of the Act will mean that the decision on limitation will now be reversed, potentially opening the door to a whole raft of historical cases on alleged defective works.
This is the first step towards a wider suite of legislation that will further match the protections provided to citizens in England and Wales under the Building Safety Act 2022 and ultimately further reduce the disparity that exists in Northern Ireland.
However, it’s clear that lengthening the limitation period without providing the additional protections afforded by the BSA may cause some issues in the interim.
- Nuala Maguire, Of Counsel, Eversheds Sutherland
