For many social housing providers, this is the most persistent misconception. BLOs were expressly designed to deal with scenarios where the original contracting entity is thinly capitalised, dissolved or insolvent. The existence (or otherwise) of that original company is no longer the limiting factor it once was.
In reality, the more relevant questions are:
Once that lens is applied, insolvency stops being an endpoint and becomes a starting signal for wider investigation.
BLO conversations still default to cladding and fire risk, often overlooking the breadth of what “relevant liability” can capture. Fitness for habitation, structural issues and wider building safety risks all potentially fall within scope. That matters because it changes which schemes are even considered for recovery assessment.
For housing providers and local authorities managing large, ageing estates, this distinction matters. Schemes may be incurring substantial remediation costs that sit outside typical ‘fire safety’ labels, and therefore outside initial recovery discussions, even though liability may still be capable of being pursued.
Another common belief is that BLOs only come into play at the very end of a dispute, once liability has been fully established through court proceedings.
For housing providers under pressure to remediate quickly and demonstrate progress to regulators, early understanding of where responsibility may ultimately lie can influence decisions long before any final determination. BLO analysis is increasingly being carried out alongside technical and liability assessments, not after them.
This doesn’t mean acting without evidence. It means recognising that understanding exposure, financial capacity and group structures early can support better decisions about adjudication, negotiation, funding and overall strategy.
Complex group structures, overseas entities and historic reorganisations are often cited as reasons not to pursue recovery. As a result, complexity is often treated as a reason to step back.
However, those same features can strengthen the narrative around control, benefit and fairness, particularly where value has been extracted through layers of corporate insulation.
The real challenge is not complexity, but the ability to see through it. When financial analysis and corporate mapping are done well, large groups can often be narrowed down to a relatively small number of genuinely viable and asset-rich targets.
Perhaps the most limiting misconception is that BLOs only have value if litigation is the end goal.
Some of the most effective uses of BLO analysis never result in litigation, and instead inform:
A BLO operates retrospectively. It may be made against the original contracting entity, as well as any associated entity within its corporate group that was connected to it at any point from the commencement of the construction project, in respect of which the relevant liability arose, through to the date on which the BLO is granted.
For housing providers balancing resident safety, regulatory scrutiny and financial resilience, BLOs are increasingly about leverage and informed choice — not simply enforcement.
The question for many housing providers is no longer whether BLOs exist, but when, and how, they should be part of the conversation. If you would like to explore how Building Liability Orders may affect your organisation, or to discuss potential risk, recovery or strategy, please get in touch.
Building Liability Orders (BLOs) are becoming more challenging to assess, especially where liability must be traced through dissolved or administrated entities, inter‑company arrangements and wider group structures.
In recent years, many social housing providers have found themselves absorbing the cost of addressing non-compliant construction works, even where defects can be traced back to the original construction. Building Liability Orders were introduced to challenge that outcome.
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