A man whose home suffered damage because of problems with its foundations has been awarded provisional damages of more than £423,000 from the housebuilder from which he bought the property.
The four-bedroom detached house, which the man had purchased the house for nearly £650,000 in 2015, was one of 89 houses on a residential estate developed by the housebuilder. Some trees on the land had been removed before it was sold to the housebuilder and this had not been taken into account in the design of the foundations, which should have included piles extending below the level of the removed trees’ roots. After cracks and gaps appeared in the house, the man brought proceedings against the housebuilder, seeking damages in respect of the costs of curing, and of remedying damage caused by, the defects in the house.
The housebuilder accepted that it had breached its contract with the man because the house lacked appropriate foundations. The contended that it was necessary to demolish and rebuild the house, but the High Court considered that it would be legally wrong to award damages on that basis. The cracks and gaps in the superstructure were likely to be attributable to differential movement that was only occurring because foundations were not appropriate for the ground conditions. Subject to the differential movement ceasing, the cracks and gaps would be essentially cosmetic issues addressable by minor repairs, and could not reasonably justify demolition and replacement of the superstructure.
The Court considered that damages should be assessed based on the housebuilder’s proposed scheme of remediation, whereby the superstructure of the house would be retained, and the house and the porch would be supported by a new substructure of a piled raft that would oversail the existing foundations. A new ground floor would also be installed and support provided for the garage and the porch.
The Court provisionally assessed the costs of the remedial work at £385,543, including VAT. The man was also awarded £10,000 in aggravated damages and £27,700 to pay for alternative accommodation while the work was carried out.