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Social landlords could recover cladding costs, say legal experts

Social landlords may be able to recover the cost of removal of dangerous cladding, legal experts have said.

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Social landlords could recover cladding costs, say legal experts

In response to the Grenfell Tower fire social landlords have been inspecting the cladding on their tower blocks and a number have said the cladding does not match what they originally specified.

Several lawyers have told Inside Housing they have received a large number of enquiries from landlords about the legal routes they could take against contractors following a review of the cladding on their tower blocks.

Separately, a comment piece by Charis Beverton, senior associate at Winckworth Sherwood, said most construction contracts require the contractor to comply with all relevant legislation, including the building regulations.


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There is also usually a ban on using “deleterious materials”, she said, which could be defined as anything that could pose a health and safety threat or jeopardise the stability of the building.

If cladding has been installed that breaches these contractual terms legal proceedings could be brought against the relevant contractor.

Ms Beverton said a housing association “would have to show there was no logical or reasonable basis to think the cladding was safe at the time of installation”.

If an inspector signed off on unsafe cladding then they may have breached their duty of care, he added.

Most construction contracts have a 12-year limitation period. However, the statutory period for contractual, tortuous and most statutory claims is six years.

There are a number of risks, including if a landlord’s indemnity policy covers multiple sites so only limited funds might be available for claims. Also, a contractor could have become insolvent since they carried out the work.

Lee Clark, a partner at Capsticks, said: “At all times, understanding the contractual process is extremely important so those contracts need to be reviewed without delay. Some contractors may find themselves paying damages under the particular terms of the contract in place but many will not. There is no universal answer on landlords’ options, with each depending on what the contractual documents say, what applicable standard was, and who specified the cladding.”

Update: at 5.25pm, 17.07.17 This story was updated to include an extra quote.

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