A recent appeal court decision in the case of URS Corporation Ltd vs BDW Trading Ltd has shed some light on the vexed question of whether developers are owed duties under the Defective Premises Act 1972 (the DPA). 

Developer BDW appointed engineering firm URS to provide structural design services in relation to two residential developments. Practical completion occurred between March 2007 and February 2008, and BDW then sold the individual apartments.

In 2019 BDW discovered that there were structural defects in the developments, but by this time it no longer owned or had a proprietary interest in them. Nevertheless, it considered it had liability to the occupiers under the DPA pursuant to the individual contracts of sale. BDW therefore incurred costs of investigating and carrying out remedial works.

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