Residential Construction Law

Philip Britton, Matthew Bell, Deirdre Ní Fhloinn, Kim Vernau

• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781509939244
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Construction Law
• Index: Law

This is the first book to offer a systematic and analytical overview of the legal framework for residential construction. In doing so, the book addresses two fundamental questions:
Prevention: What assurances can the law give buyers (and later owners and occupiers) of homes that construction work – from building of a complete home to adding an extension or replacing a shower unit – will comply with minimum standards of design, safety and build quality?
Cure: What forms of redress - from whom, and by what route - can residents expect, when, often long after completion of construction, they discover defects? The resulting problems pose some big and difficult questions of principle and policy about standards, rights and remedies, which in turn concern justice more generally. This book addresses these key issues in a comparative context across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is an accessible guide to the existing law for residents and construction professionals (and their legal advisers), but also charts a course to further, meaningful reforms of the legal landscape for residential construction around the world. The book's two co-authors, Philip Britton and Matthew Bell, have taught in the field in the UK, Australia and New Zealand; both have been active in legal practice, as have the book's two specialist contributors, Deirdre Ní Fhloinn and Kim Vernau.

ENGLISH/AUSTRALIAN TERMINOLOGY

ENGLISH	AUSTRALIAN
Claimant	Plaintiff
Completion (of the legal side of the sale of a home or other building)	Settlement
Contract Supervisor (sometimes ‘the Engineer’)	Superintendent
Design and build (D&B)	Design and construct (D&C)
Employer (sometimes Client) (for construction)	Principal (sometimes Owner)
Main contract(or)	Head contract(or)
Off-plan	Off-the-plan
Show home	Display home

CURRENCY CONVERSION AT 1 JANUARY 2021

	£	A$	NZ$	€
£1	–	A$1.78	NZ$2.08	€1.13
A$1	£0.55	–	NZ$1.17	€0.63
NZ$1	£0.49	A$0.85	–	€0.55
€1	£0.90	A$1.58	NZ$1.84	–

GENERIC CONSTRUCTION PARTIES IN NUMBERED SCENARIOS: TABLES 1.1–1.3

	EXPLANATION	WHICH SCENARIO/S?
A	Architect	6
B1	First buyer (of a new home), from a developer (X or Y) – may be freehold or long leasehold	2–5, 7
B2	Second buyer (of a home) from its first owner B1 – direct successor to B1	5–6, 8
B3	Current owner (of a home) bought from B2 – indirect successor to B1	6
C	Consultant, eg architect, quantity surveyor – if more than one, then C1, C2 etc	1
L	Lender (typically a bank or building society): providing finance to B1 in return for security (a mortgage or equivalent) over the home	2
M	Main contractor (head contractor) – if more than one, then M1, M2 etc	1, 6 ...