Victoria Square: Minister wants to end 'unfair disparity'

New legislation to provide more protection for the owners of defective properties is to be brought forward.

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said the move would end the "unfair disparity" between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Owners of the Victoria Square apartments were forced to vacate their city centre homes in 2019 due to safety fears about the building's structure.

In March their bid for compensation was struck out by the High Court.

The owners were told their case could not advance because, under the current law, claims must be made within six years of a building being completed.

In England and Wales, the timeframe is 30 years.

The companies involved in construction and fitting out of the apartments deny liability.

Addressing the Stormont Assembly on Monday, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Mr Lyons said a proposed new bill would introduce provisions to change the time limit to include a retrospective period up to 30 years.

The minister said it would be inappropriate to comment on live legal proceedings around Victoria Square but said the case "acutely highlighted the disparity" between Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK.

He added that he was bringing forward the legislation to "help people across Northern Ireland".

"I am pleased to announce today that I intend to bring to the assembly, as a matter of urgency, legislation to provide the same protection associated with defective premises for citizens in Northern Ireland as afforded elsewhere in the UK," Mr Lyons said.

Apartment owner Patrick McKeague, said Monday's announcement had provided a "great sense of relief".

But Mr McKeague said he wanted to see the legislation pushed through as quickly as possible, as he noted the minister had not provided a timeline.

He told BBC News NI that he and other residents plan to pursue a fresh bid for compensation in the event that the law can be changed to widen the time limit to 30 years.

And he said the law would protect people right across Northern Ireland if issues at other buildings come to light in the future.

The minister told MLAs he would be seeking the support of other executive ministers to fast-track the new legislation.

"Given the urgency, I am writing to executive colleagues today to seek their support and approval to introduce new legislation under the accelerated passage process," he said.

"This primary legislation will address the period under which action can be taken with regard to defective buildings and addresses the unfair disparity that currently exists and disadvantages our people."

Mr Lyons said he could not give an "exact timeline on how quickly this can be progressed" but he wanted to move "as quickly as possible".

SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole, the leader of the Opposition in Stormont whose Belfast South constituency takes in the Victoria Square complex, welcomed statement.

The SDLP's Colm Gildernew, who chairs of the communities scrutiny committee also welcomed the announcement.

He said the committee had received correspondence from those impacted by the Victoria Square apartments issues.

However, TUV Leader Jim Allister said Mr Lyons "rather avoided" a question on whether the Victoria Square residents would be able to renew their legal action as a result of the proposed bill.

He said: "Will the legislation contain express provision to enable actions struck out for limitation infringement to be re-litigated?"

Mr Lyons responded: "I am not going to comment or get involved in ongoing matters. It would be inappropriate for me to get involved in the specifics of that."

He said he hoped the details would "become apparent to the member when the legislation is produced, what exactly that will do".

Ulster Garden Villages, a charity which owns 54 of the 91 apartments in Victoria Square, and uses investments to provide funding for other charitable projects, said the proposed law change was "very welcome news indeed".

The charity also urged "all political parties to work together to accelerate [its] passage".

Ninety-one properties at Victoria Square were evacuated five years ago, after cracks started appearing in the walls in what was described as "a serious and substantial structural failure" of a column.

An interim report, seen by BBC News NI, looked at the structural failures which claimed a column was "constructed using concrete that was understrength by some 75%".

The findings suggested a dozen other columns are also understrength, although to a lesser degree.

The authors said the failings posed "a serious health and safety issue", but stressed the need for further tests.

Residents of the building had been paying rates for five years, but Land & Property Services (LPS) announced in March that owners would no longer have to pay.