Cases - Alderson v Beetham Organisation Ltd
Record details
- Name
- Alderson v Beetham Organisation Ltd
- Date
- [2003]
- Citation
- EWCA Civ 408
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Contract administration - Defective Premises Act 1972
- Summary
-
The defendants were property developers who were responsible for converting a building into flats in 1994. The claimant purchased a long leasehold interest in one of the flats in 1995. Soon after occupation it was discovered that the flat was susceptible to damp. Remedial works, consisting of the re-laying of floor slabs and the fitting of extra drainage, were undertaken by the defendants in 1995 but were ineffective. It transpired that this was because the root cause of the problems was the failure of the Newton damp-proofing system. The claimant brought an action under the Defective Premises Act 1972 in 2001, claiming that the defendants had breached their statutory duty to render the property fit for human habitation. The defendants argued that the claim was statute-barred: whilst a new cause of action accrued in 1995 in respect of the remedial works (i.e. the floor slabs and extra drainage), no new cause of action in respect of the original works (i.e. the damp-proofing) arose.
The Court of Appeal rejected the defendant's contentions, and held that in cases where a party has come back to repair a defect but failed to repair it properly, a fresh cause of action accrues at the time of the failed remedial works. In the circumstances, the claim was allowed.