Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Upper Tribunal in Vista Tower confirms joint and several RCOs; clarifies ‘just and equitable’, ‘building safety risk’ and remedial cost reasonableness under the Building Safety Act 2022

Published on: 24 February 2026

Published by a LexisNexis Property Disputes expert

Legal News

Article summary

The FTT decision

As noted in a previous Insight, the proprietor of Vista Tower ('Grey') applied for an RCO against the building’s original developer and 95 additional parties who met the definition of ‘associated persons’ due to shared directors during 2017 to 2022. The owner requested an order requiring the respondents to cover both historic and forthcoming costs to rectify fire safety defects, estimated at over £20m. The FTT granted that relief, on a joint and several liability basis, against 75 respondents.

The appeal

Certain respondents appealed on these grounds:

whether the Tribunal can make RCOs rendering multiple respondents jointly and severally liable for the same overall sum, or whether it must make individual orders against each respondent for a specifically identified amount.
whether the Tribunal misdirected itself on the “just and equitable” test, given that for many respondents there was no demonstration that they participated in the relevant development or obtained remuneration from it, and that the Tribunal improperly required respondents to show why an order ought not to be made against them
the threshold for a ‘building safety...

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