In English Construction Law, does a domestic client have a right to adjudication if the agreed form of contract provides for it
<p>This is a specific question about English Construction Law. </p>

<ul>
<li>Domestic client</li>
<li>JCT ICD Contract (with provisions for adjudication)</li>
</ul>

<p>Although I may have misconstrued the point, I've read somewhere that domestic clients don't have a right to adjudication. But surely they do if the contract says they do ?!?!</p>

<p>EDIT:</p>

<p>In the specific example which prompted the question, having reached practical completion the Employer has taken possession and so is <em>now</em> 'resident owner' - but they lived elsewhere at the time the JCT Intermediate Contract was let, having purchased the property shortly before instructing the works. So, it's not (what I would understand by the term) 'a resident owner contract', and the Employer wasn't 'a resident owner' when the contract began.</p>

<p>Does that have any bearing on the matter?</p>

<p>You have misconstrued the point but only slightly. The relevant provision is <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/53/section/106" rel="nofollow noreferrer">s106</a> of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>106 Provisions not applicable to contract with residential occupier.</strong></p>
<p>(1) This Part does not apply—</p>
<p>(a) to a construction contract with a residential occupier (see below), or</p>
<p>(b) to any other description of construction contract excluded from the operation of this Part by order of the Secretary of State.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A residential occupier is a person who lives or <em>intends</em> to live in the premises at the time the contract was formed.</p>
<p>Contracts for residential (domestic) work are generally covered but <strong>not</strong> if one of the parties is a resident of the premises. So contracts between the builder and subcontractors are covered as are those between subcontractors and suppliers. Contracts between a non-resident owner, for example where the owner is a company or trustee or a landlord) are covered as are any that involve work outside the &quot;flat&quot;, for example on common areas or in more than one flat.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>But surely they do if the contract says they do ?!?!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Surely not! A contract can only do things that are legal - the law here is that adjudication is <em>not</em> legal for resident owner contract.</p>

contract-law england-and-wales