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Q&As
Who is liable for poor workmanship on my home extension?
The house extension was completed three and a half years ago, but the flat roof is now leaking.
I had a private building control company checking my building works at the time. They signed off and gave me a certificate for "Single storey Side/Rear extension and new roof".
Now the structure leaks, there is some doubt about whether the upstands for rooflights were efficiently insulated - which could be causing condensation.
We have a Cure It GRP roof, which has cracked in places and there is a soft patch. Oriented strand board (OSB) was used for this, and I believe this is a warm roof.
Can I sue the building control officer for signing off poor construction? The builder has voluntarily liquidated last year.
One Answer
Flat roofs are notoriously fickle things and are prone to all sorts of problems. In this case, I think you have been unlucky and your roof has failed early. If the work was covered by an insurance backed guarantee, then you might be able to make a claim against that. However, it looks like there’s no guarantee in place and the builder who installed it has gone into liquidation, so I’m afraid that’s it, you’ll have to pay for it to be repaired. The Building Control Inspector would have signed it off against current building regulations to the best of his judgement at the time, but you can’t hold him responsible for its failure over 3 years later. Have the roof assessed by a member of the National Federation of Roofing Contractors and seek quotes for repairs based on this.