Case No. HT-2025-000039 , HT-2-25-000040 - [2025] EWHC 2005 (TCC)

There are before the Court two applications: the Claimant contractor’s application for summary judgment so as to enforce the decision of an adjudicator, and the Defendant employers’ application for declarations under Part 8 of the CPR. The Defendants resist summary judgment on the footing that the contract in question was a construction contract with a residential occupier, and so it is said that, pursuant to section 106 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (“the 1996 Act”), the statutory scheme of adjudication is inapplicable and hence the adjudicator had no jurisdiction to determine the dispute between the parties.

The declarations sought by the Defendants pursuant to CPR Part 8 are to the effect that the employers’ payless notice was valid. The adjudicator decided that the payless notice was not valid. The Defendants further argue that in the event that they are successful in relation to the payless notice, the Court should reverse the adjudicator’s order as to payment of his fees. The parties agree that these applications should be heard together, and, by a consent order dated 4 January 2025, Waksman J gave directions to that end.

Mr Frampton appears for the Claimant and Mr Hanna for the Defendants, and I am grateful to them both for their lucid written and oral submissions.