Yes: the Defective Premises Act 1972 imposes a duty on everyone who works on building, converting or enlarging a dwelling to work in a workmanlike or professional manner with proper materials so the dwelling is fit for habitation, and that duty is owed to the first owner and to subsequent purchasers without any contractual link, reaching the contractor, subcontractors, architect and engineers

Yes. The Defective Premises Act 1972 imposes a duty on everyone who takes on work in building, converting or enlarging a dwelling to work to a workmanlike or professional standard and with proper materials, leaving the dwelling fit for habitation, and that duty is owed to the first owner and to subsequent purchasers without any contractual link. It can reach the contractor, subcontractors, architect and engineers, depending on the work each took on. Fitness for habitation is wide: Bole v Huntsbuild held that the Act covers defects of quality, not only dangerous defects, and that a defect in one part of the dwelling can be enough, even where the owners still live there. Since the Building Safety Act 2022 the limitation period is 15 years from completion for work on or after 28 June 2022, and 30 years where the right of action accrued before that date, replacing the former six years; Alderson v Beetham, decided under the old period, held that failed remedial work by the original builder starts a fresh accrual of the cause of action. A designer who ignores recognised guidance, such as building near trees, can be liable under the Act.