fThe Statutory Duty Of Care introduced under the Design and Building Practitioners Act is under the microscope

Overview

The statutory duty of care introduced under the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) (DBP Act) has been the subject of three recent Supreme Court of NSW decisions, which are among the first to consider its application.

McCullough Robertson's Insight articles dated 16 July 2020, 20 August 2020 and 28 June 2021 previously considered the introduction of the DBP Act in 2020, along with its Regulation in 2021.

Under section 37 of the DBP Act, a statutory duty of care is owed by a person who carries out construction work. That duty is to exercise reasonable care to avoid economic loss caused by defects, and is owed to the owner of the land (and each subsequent owner) on which the construction work is carried out.