Domestic clients

The CDM Regulations 2007 define ‘client’ as a person who in the course or furtherance of a business seeks or accepts the services of someone to help carry out a project, or carries out a project themselves. Domestic clients are people who have work done to their own home or the home of a family member (which they live in or will live in), that does not relate to a trade or business, whether for profit or not. Local authorities, housing associations, charities, landlords and other businesses may own domestic property but they are not domestic clients.

Note: See separate questions for property developers and management companies.

It is the status of the person procuring the work that will determine if the Regulations apply, not the nature of the premises. For example, where alterations are carried out on a domestic house to improve disabled access, and that work is procured by a local authority, then the client will be the local authority and CDM client duties will apply, even though the work is being done in domestic premises for the benefit of the householder.
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Domestic clients have no duties under the CDM 2007 Regulations. However, a domestic client could attract duties under Part 4 of the Regulations if they control the way in which construction work is carried out. For example, a client who provides an unsafe means of access and insists upon its use, or who decides how the work will be done (possibly unsafely) would, to some extent, then be controlling construction work.

Domestic clients do not normally have client duties under the CDM Regulations. There is no requirement to appoint a CDM co-ordinator or principal contractor. Domestic clients will only have duties under Part 4 of the Regulations if they control the way in which construction work is carried out (eg by insisting on use of an unsafe means of access). Duties under Part 4 apply irrespective of employment status or whether you do construction work, but kick in if there is significant control over the way the work is done. The extent of the duty is in proportion to the degree of control you have over the work in question.

No. This is because Part 3 of the CDM Regulations does not apply to projects carried out for a domestic client, so there is no requirement to notify the project.

Yes. You will need to comply with all of the duties that apply to contractors in Parts 1, 2 and 4 of the CDM Regulations.

Yes. You will need to comply with the duties placed on designers in Parts 1 and 2 of the CDM Regulations (there are no duties on designers in Part 4 unless you are managing or controlling the construction work).

Yes. The management company is a business (whether for profit or not) and is classed as the client. All parts of the CDM Regulations will apply, where relevant.

No. This is because a domestic client is not a ‘client’ as defined by the Regulations, and Part 3 of the Regulations does not apply to projects where there is a domestic client.