COMPLEX STRUCTURES AND THE LATENT DAMAGE ACT 1986

In Broster v Galliard Docklands Ltd [2011] EWHC 1722 (TCC), [2011] All ER (D) 79 (Jul) Mr Justice Akenhead held that the claimant purchasers were not entitled to bring a claim in negligence against the defendant contractors who had been employed by house builders to construct the properties in which the claimants resided. The claim brought was held to be one to rectify a defect in the property itself and not a claim within the ‘complex structure’ exception. Consequently, the claim was held to fall within the general rule which renders such claims irrecoverable in tort. It was also held that the claimant could not rely upon s3 of the Latent Damage Act 1986 because that section does not operate to create a cause of action which does not otherwise exist.