Ashfield District Council: Defective Dwellings

Defective Dwellings

What is a defective dwelling?

In the late 1940s and 1950s a number of properties were built using various systems-built techniques which are a non-traditional method of construction. The systems used are known by the manufacturers' or builders' names.

In the 1980s a number of faults came to light with a number of system-built properties and Section 528 of the Housing Act 1985 enabled the Secretary of State to designate particular types of construction as “defective” provided they met two conditions:

that they are inherently defective by design or construction, and
that their value has been substantially reduced by virtue of this having become generally known.

Within the Council's housing stock the following properties are deemed to be defective under the provisions of the Housing Act 1985:

Cornish – the defects relate to the ineffective protection of the embedded steel in the reinforced concrete load bearing parts of the building.
Reema – the defects relate to the ineffective protection of the embedded steel in the reinforced concrete load bearing parts of the building.
Wates – the defects relate to the ineffective protection of the embedded steel in the reinforced concrete load bearing parts of the building.
Smith – the defects relate to the ineffective protection of the embedded steel handling reinforcement in the concrete panels forming part of the load bearing walls.

Purchase of defective dwellings

You are entitled to buy your home even thought it is a defective dwelling provided, as with any other tenant, you meet the eligibility requirement set out in Section 2. However, you should appreciate that the purchase of a designated defective dwelling has a number of implications, some of which are set out below:

there are likely to be problems obtaining a mortgage on the property from traditional sources and it is likely that a mortgage will only be available from a specialist lender;
on purchasing the property you would be responsible for any repairs necessary to the property, including any repairs arising from any defects;
no grant assistance would be available to the purchaser to carry out works to the property under the provisions of Part XVI of the Housing Act 1985;
the fact that the property is deemed to be defective may have an impact on any future sale of the property as there is likely to be a more limited market for properties of this nature.