The Housing Defects Act of 1984 was a UK law introduced to address the issue of defects in new houses and flats. The Act was designed to protect homebuyers from defects in the design, construction, and materials used in the construction of their new home.
After World War II, there was a significant demand for new housing, and local authorities and other public entities began utilising new construction techniques for speed and efficiency. The post-war housing shortage led to a boom in new ‘non-traditional’ methods of house construction.
Non-traditional buildings are constructed using materials or methods that deviate from being built of bricks or stone with either a slate or tiled roof.
One solution was off-site construction using precast reinforced concrete (PRC) sections, produced in UK factories and sent out to be built by a largely unskilled labour force. PRC homes, also known as prefabricated or prefab homes, are classed as non-traditional construction.
However, these methods came with issues which were not immediately apparent, particularly with prefabricated construction, which led to a high number of defects.
In the 1980s, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) conducted research into these defects. The government then introduced a program in 1984 to assist owners who had unknowingly purchased designated defective properties from a public entity.
The Housing Defects Act 1984 was created to address defective homes sold by public sector authorities. The Secretary of State could categorise types of buildings as defective if their design or construction led to substantial value reduction, which became widely known.
This Act was later incorporated into Part XVI of the 1985 Housing Act, which offered a grant of up to 90% of repair costs for defects, subject to a spending limit, or repurchase at 95% of the defect-free value.
Local authorities predicted that 31,000 property owners would be eligible for the program. By February 1994, 90% of eligible owners had already received assistance. The Housing Defects scheme has now ended; the last date by which owners of most designated dwelling types could apply for assistance was 30 November 1994. Owners of Smith properties had until 30 April 1996 and Boswell owners until 7 April 1997.
Many of these properties still exist and require mortgages. Finance is available for some construction styles but often the remedial work needs to have been completed and a PRC Certificate issued as confirmation. Once done, it is possible to get a concrete house mortgage from a few lenders.
The following types of properties were ‘designated defective’ by the Secretary of State:
- Airey
- Boot
- Boswell
- Cornish Unit 1
- Cornish Unit 2
- Dorran 1
- Dorran 2
- Dyke
- Gregory
- Myton 1
- Myton 2
- Newland 1
- Newland 2
- Orlit
- Parkinson Frame
- Reema Hollow Panel
- Schindler and Hawksley SGS
- Smith
- Stent
- Stonecrete
- Tarran 1
- Tarran 2
- Underdown
- Unity and Butterley 1
- Unity and Butterley 2
- Waller
- Wates
- Wessex 1
- Wessex 2
- Winget
- Woolaway
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