STATUTES
| Published date | 01 November 1973 |
| Date | 01 November 1973 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1973.tb01392.x |
STATUTES
DEFECTIVE
PREMISES
ACT
1972
THE
law relating to the liability of vendors, builders and lessors
of defective premises suffers, like such premises, from a variety
of defects. These are of differing degree and raise issues of both
contractual and tortious liability. These problems were considered
by the Law Commission and recommendations were made
to
remedy many such defects. Most, though not all, of these recom-
mendations have been embodied in the Defective Premises Act
1972
which comes into force on January
1, 1974.
This is a quite substantial piece of consumer protection legislation
but its passage through Parliament was remarkable. There was
no
debate on it in the House of Commons whatsoever. The proposer
of the Bill, a Private Member’s Bill, outlined its provisions briefly
on Second Reading
;
the Solicitor-General commended it to the
House; and that was the sum total of the discussion.2
Discussion in the House of Lords was a little more substantial;
but even there debate was, in substance, confined to section
1
of
the Act.3 Whether such legislative ease and speed is to be
regarded as a tribute to the skill
of
the Law Commission on whose
draft bill the Act is substantially based, or a consequence of the
complexities of the law which confounded the legislators,
or
of a
general Parliamentary acquiescence in the passage of
“
law reform
”
legislation, it is hard to say. The first would be a thoroughly
justified reason.
The various problems and their statutory solutions must now
he
examined.
1.
Duty to
build
properly
In the case of the sale of premises, the basic contractual rule
is
caveat emptor.
It
is the purchaser’s task to have the premises
surveyed and to determine whether they are
fit
for the purpose
intended. There are, of course, circumstances where liability will
fall on the vendor.
If
he is fraudulent
or
makes other misrepresent-
ations, then an action may lie in deceit
or
under the Misrepresent-
ation Act
1967.
He may expressly warrant the soundness of the
prcmises. In a contract
for
the sale
or
lease of a building, especially
a dwelling-house, to be constructed, there is,
prima facie,
an implied
1
Law
Corn.
No.
40
(1’370)
Civil Liability
of
Vendors
and
Imsors
for
Defective
See
SISO
Dworkin
(1964)
28
Conv.(N.s.)
276, 385, 478;
North
(1965)
Premises.
29
ConV.(N.S.)
220, 290.
2
H.C.Deh.,
Vol.
830,
COIH.
1821-1824.
3
II.L.Deb.,
Vol.
330,
CO~S.
1860-1372;
Vol.
331,
COIH.
12R-165.
628
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