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RBH v James: HGCRA residential occupier exception precludes summary enforcement; payless notice need not show calculation; adjudicator’s fees not revisitable (England and Wales)

Published on: 21 August 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Construction expert
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RBH Building Contractors Ltd v James and another [2025] EWHC 2005 (TCC)

What are the practical implications of this case?

It is widely regarded as the first occasion on which a responding party has successfully invoked the residential occupier exception in s 106 of the HGCRA 1996 to stop summary enforcement of an adjudicator’s award. Because adjudication has proved an effective route to resolve disputes, and given the danger of satellite litigation, the exception has typically attracted judicial scepticism. The Honourable Mr Justice Coulson (as he then was) remarked in Westfields Construction Ltd v Lewis: ‘Is it not time for HGCRA 1996, s 106, and the other exceptions to statutory adjudication, to be done away with, so that all parties to a construction contract can enjoy the benefits of adjudication?’

Although the outcome turns on its facts, the case highlights a possible unwillingness on the part of the court to engage with contested factual witness material on a summary judgment application—at least where the defence advanced raises a genuine issue of jurisdiction—despite the well-known public policy imperative of seeking to uphold adjudicators’ decisions...

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