Provisions the documents cite: s.1 (duty to build dwellings properly), s.2A (duties relating to work to existing dwellings, for work completed after 28 June 2022), s.6(3) (no contracting out)
What it requires
A person taking on work for or in connection with the provision of a dwelling — whether by erection, conversion or enlargement of a building — owes a duty to the person to whose order the dwelling is provided and to every person who acquires an interest in it, to see that the work is done in a workmanlike or professional manner, with proper materials, and so that as regards that work the dwelling will be fit for habitation when completed (s.1(1)). A person who does the work properly in accordance with the other party's instructions discharges the duty to that extent, unless it owed and failed to discharge a duty to warn of defects in the instructions; agreeing to a specified manner, material or design is not itself giving instructions (s.1(2)–(3)). The cause of action accrues when the dwelling is completed, or, for later remedial work, when that work is finished (s.1(5)). s.2A — a person who in the course of a business takes on work in relation to any part of a building consisting of or containing one or more dwellings owes the same duty, to the person for whom the work is done and each person holding or acquiring an interest in a dwelling in the building, so that as regards the work the dwelling is fit for habitation when the work is completed; it does not apply to work providing the dwelling (s.1 applies) or where the dwelling will cease to exist; the cause of action accrues on completion of the work. s.2A applies to work completed after it came into force on 28 June 2022 (Building Safety Act 2022 s.134(2)). Any term of an agreement purporting to exclude or restrict the operation of the Act or liability under it is void (s.6(3)). Claims are limited to 15 years from accrual, or 30 years for a s.1 claim that accrued before 28 June 2022 (Limitation Act 1980 s.4B). The Act concerns the law of England and Wales.
The instrument itself: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1972/35. The summary above is our plain-English reading, not the text of the instrument — always work from the source.
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The 1 document that cite it
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