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New UK homes 'crumbling due to weak mortar'
- whatshisface 8y ago>The full extent of the industry-wide problem is hard to measure as some homeowners have been asked to sign gagging orders to claim compensation. It baffles me that this term is a legal part of settlement contracts. The victim doesn't really benefit that much from committing the event to the public record, society does - so they should not be able to negotiate it away (nor should corporations be able to "un-happen" things that they did).
- Nasrudith 8y agoI'm not sure of the fine details but it seems like something that should be kept with internal records to be binding just for the sake of enforcement alone - one has to tell what they were restricted from saying in the first place in case it comes up. That level of record keeping also ensures that it can't be used for malfeasance like covering up crimes because it means entering in records for evidence. Privacy isn't a valid claim here because the whole point is government use of force - the right to oversight for everyone out-weights their non-existant right to secrecy in use of legal force. An old and very sensible principle is that the law isn't required to enforce contracts involving breaking it. Prosecuting hitmen for taking the money and running off would be a use of resources for the exact opposite of their job. I think ideally you should technically settle out of court but it won't be binding by definition but open for review. If you give someone $250 for bad mortar and it later causes more damage because of containing asbestos the settlement shouldn't block the clai. And yeah it seems to be a 'guild' law artifact in that the legal principles are entirely based off of 'caste interests' instead of principles of rule by consent of the people or equality. The UK in particular has issues with valuing reputation over truth - they have already been banned from many countries over libel shopping and their laws helped cover up Jimmy Savvile's monstrous deeds - ones so bad that his family took down and sold his tombstone for scrap.
- whatshisface 8y ago>And yeah it seems to be a 'guild' law artifact in that the legal principles are entirely based off of 'caste interests' instead of principles of rule by consent of the people or equality. Gag clauses are common in US corporate scandals as well. This seems like a frequent abuse that everyone always wants to do when they are about to be found out, a prime candidate for legislation.
- lstodd 8y ago> Exactly why the weaker building material may have been used is unclear. Really? What's unclear with skimping on cement and pocketing the difference? It's not that that wasn't happening since the cement was invented.
- everybodyknows 8y agoSure, at the first, proximate level of causation. The deeper questions concern the regulatory failure: - Does NHBC possess the technical and budgetary wherewithal to adequately inspect? - What enforcement powers does NHBC purportedly have? - Why has it not exercised them against the bad actors? - Have certain homebuilders captured the NHBC? - Has NHBC captured legislators, or public employees? - Why has there been no legal challenge to the NDAs?
- sys_64738 8y agoDo they do housing inspections in England? Or was somebody given a backhander to look the other way?
- beerlord 8y agoThe UK is running a large immigration program, but its cities are fundamentally limited in size due to restrictive green belts. As a result, any increase in population will lead to a direct increase in land values, incentivising corners to be cut on the actual building work in order to meet budgets. The UK and other developed countries should set a population cap (they are all at or below replacement fertility anyway) and restrict immigration to ensure this cap is never exceeded. We are seeing the same problems in other countries like Australia where heavy levels of immigration are pushing land values beyond reasonable levels and straining the construction and planning industry.
- RobLach 8y agoI don’t intend this to be a personal attack but I think you need to take a step back and re-evaluate what you’re saying because what I’m reading is that because of increasing populations, property is more valuable, which creates more opportunities for corners to be cut as land is developed; and then the solution to that problem is to ensure land doesn’t increase in value by implementing strict population controls by the state. I don’t even think immigration is a core element of your argument since logically you’d still want to limit the native population through some sort of dystopic state level program.
- tonyedgecombe 8y agoThe main reason we have a housing problem is we have gone from a population of three generations to four. Immigration has an effect but it's small compared to this.
- hinkley 8y agoI believe in the 80’s here there was a rash of using coastal sand in concrete. The salt lead to very premature failure of the materials.