Monier Road Limited v Nicholas Alexander Blomfield & Ors
Decision date: 4 June 2025
Neutral citation: [2025] UKUT 157 (LC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
Monier Road Ltd appealed a First-tier Tribunal remediation order under the Building Safety Act 2022 which had added remediation items beyond those in the leaseholders' application. The Upper Tribunal held the FTT exceeded its discretion and adopted an unfair procedure by raising and effectively arguing new issues (the "Additional Items") without giving parties a proper opportunity to plead or adduce evidence, and set aside those parts of the order. The UT remade the remediation order excluding the Additional Items and removed the requirement to submit the order to the Building Safety Regulator. The FTT’s comments that the building was a higher-risk building were outside its jurisdiction and had no legal effect.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
A tribunal may raise issues not advanced by the parties, but only within the limits of its discretion and, having raised a new point, must follow a fair procedure that gives the parties a proper opportunity to plead and adduce evidence. A tribunal must not rely on its own undisclosed views to contradict unchallenged expert evidence without giving reasons and affording the experts an opportunity to respond.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The tribunal observed that it is unlikely professional risk assessments will miss significant fire-safety risks and warned tribunals to be cautious about conducting de facto building-safety audits; and suggested that if a tribunal genuinely identifies a potentially fatal risk not raised by the parties it may raise the point but must then allow the applicant to pursue it or discharge the matter.