Developers, residents and the Defective Premises Act 1972

In Zennstrom v Fagot [2013] EWHC 288 (TCC), [2013] All ER (D) 287 (Feb) Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart held that the claimants had failed to establish that the defendants had acted as developers in relation to the rebuilding of the property which the claimants had purchased from the defendants. The evidence was held to establish that the defendants had built the house as their ‘dream home’ and that they had not embarked on the development with a view to selling the house for profit. Given that the defendants were the vendors of the property and had not acted as developers in the course of a business which consisted of or included providing or arranging for the provision of dwellings, the defendants did not owe to the claimants a duty under the Defective Premises Act 1972.