The liability of local authority in respect of residential development

Abstract

The Local Authority has always been burdened with the rising of claims, disputes and litigations. In most cases, Local Authority is said to be the responsible party in any of the defects of the buildings built in its administrative areas, in particular in the residential project. Other than that, the local authority is also entrusted with the responsibility of controlling the activities of environmental, services, enforcement, taxes within its jurisdictions. Local Authority is also entrusted to address with the issues of planning approval, building approval, issuing of the Certificate of Fitness for the building project and other related responsibilities. However, in residential development, the parties involved are from various fields including the professionals, the government departments, the business people and others. Therefore, the focus is not only on the local authority in case of any incidents or mishaps occurred in relation to buildings. In line with this issue, this research attempts to study the extent of liability of parties involved in the residential development, with main focus on the local authority. In doing so, the research attempts to examine the stand of the existing legislations and of the Courts on this issue to see the possibility of getting the conclusive answer on the liability of a specific body. The research was conducted by analysing the local and foreign cases and local legislations. In this attempt, it is concluded that, although the legislations gives some positive indications in the issue of immunity of the Local Authority, but in many of the decisions of the courts, the uncertainty and the discouraging results on this aspect were found.