Private Law and Building Safety

In this book, leading international building and private law experts provide a timely and unique analysis of the real-world problem of building safety, approached through the lens of private law.

It explores the extent to which private law can be part of the solution to – as well as being part of the cause of – the building safety crisis which afflicts people around the world. The book offers policymakers, practitioners and scholars ground-breaking consideration of this vital yet under-considered aspect of the building safety crisis, along with new and valuable insights into the nature, limits and utility of private law.

The book examines the 'symptoms' of the building safety problem (fire, moisture ingress, structural integrity and beyond) across the UK, USA, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Italy and Canada. It covers the broad spread of categories within the realm of private law, including torts (primarily negligence), contract, and land (real property) law. International experts provide a variety of different perspectives on the complex and rapidly evolving relationship between private law and the measures which policymakers are implementing in response to the building safety crisis. The book examines in detail existing legislative and judicial responses to the crisis, offering guidance as to how statutory regimes addressing the building safety problem (such as the Building Safety Act 2022) can best be understood and developed.

The book results from a joint research project by the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford and Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne.

table of content

1. Private Law and Building Safety: Problems and Promise

Matthew Bell (University of Melbourne, Australia), Susan Bright (University of Oxford, UK), Ben McFarlane (University of Oxford, UK) and Andrew Robertson (University of Melbourne, Australia)

2. Tackling Building Safety through Private Law: A Comparative Analysis

Fabiana Bettini and Marco Cappelletti (University of Oxford, UK)

3. The Surfside Condominium Collapse: What Lessons Have Been Learned?

Evan C McKenzie (University of Illinois Chicago, USA)

4. Regulation and Private Law in Promoting Building Safety: The Case of Singapore

Edward SW Ti (Singapore Management University)

5. Building Safety in Canada: Has Winnipeg Condominium had an Impact?

Erika Chamberlain (University of Western Ontario, Canada)

6. Defective Premises and Economic Loss: A Problem Best Left to Legislation?

Donal Nolan (University of Oxford, UK)

7. Tort as a Tool of Government Policy: Section 38 of the Building Act 1984: Sleeping Beauty Awakes?

Jonathan Morgan (University of Cambridge, UK)

8. Rationalising Associate Liability under the Building Safety Act 2022

David Sawtell (39 Essex Chambers, UK)

9. Procedural Challenges and Opportunities for Leaseholders

Simone Degeling (University of New South Wales, Australia) and Jodi Gardner (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

10. Private Law in the Ruins

Nicholas J McBride (University of Cambridge, UK)