Adjudication, residential occupation and pay less notices

In RBH Building Contractors Ltd v James and Another [2026] EWCA Civ 511 the Court of Appeal set out a number of principles to be applied when deciding whether or not the "residential occupier" exception in section 106 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 has been satisfied such as to render the construction adjudication provisions inapplicable. The Court of Appeal also set out a number of principles to be applied when deciding whether a payment notice or a pay less notice is valid or invalid. Applying these principles to the facts of the case, it was held that the judge at first instance had been entitled to conclude both that the defendants had a real prospect of establishing that they were residential occupiers who satisfied the requirements of section 106 and that they had issued a valid pay less notice.