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Property law weekly update (England and Wales): UT cladding service charge ruling, HMLR digital modernisation, government homebuilding push, insurance risks, and legislation/case trackers

Published on: 18 September 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Property expert
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In this issue:

  • Property management
  • Transferring property
  • Property development
  • Insurance
  • Additional property updates this week
  • Daily and weekly news alerts
  • Trackers
  • New Q&A

Property management

Service charges and unsafe cladding — Building Safety Act 2022

In Almacantar Centre Point Nominee No.1 Ltd and another company v De Valk and others [2025] UKUT 298 (LC), the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) ruled that the bar on recovering service charges for unsafe cladding remediation in paragraph 8 of Schedule 8 to the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) applies irrespective of when the cladding was installed, and is not restricted to ‘relevant defects’ as defined in section 120(2) BSA 2022, which refers to them occurring in the 30 year period before section 120 took effect. The dispute arose from the freeholder’s appeal against a First-tier tribunal decision that leaseholders were not liable for service charges for façade works at Centre Point House, where the 1960s timber-framed window façade system had deteriorated to the point it posed safety risks. The UT concluded that paragraph 8’s plain and unequivocal wording contains no reference to ‘relevant defects’, unlike other paragraphs, and creates a distinct safeguard specifically for unsafe cladding...

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