Information Order

In relation to buildings and construction, Information orders were introduced as a result of the Grenfell tragedy, as part of the Building Safety Act, 2022, in part 5, section 132 and in association with building liability orders (BLOs). Claimants have the right for a apply for an Information Order, which if granted, requires a certain company to give specified information or documents relating to its associated companies.

Orders to obtain information, referred to as Information Orders are also a mechanism which was introduced by the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act (TCEA) of 2007 to assist creditors in applying for court for a order that requires a debtor to attend and provide information under oath about their financial situation. This can help provide evidence of a means of payment where a debtor might be avoiding payment of a debt which arises from the outcome of a court hearing. (Form N316: Apply for an order for a debtor to attend court). The Act also introduced the Departmental Information Request, which is a similar mechanism but one which is served on a governmental department to provide information.

Information orders for building projects as prescribed under the Building Safety Act, 2022, are a tool to be used as the precursor to help assess the merit in applying for a building liability order, which, in turn, if granted would mean that recovery rights relating to a building could be extended beyond that of a subsidiary company (sometimes referred to as a special purpose vehicle) to its associated companies. In order to obtain an Information Order, an applicant needs to provide sufficient grounds that it requires specified information or documents in order to be enable to consider whether to apply for a BLO.

The Building Safety Act, 2022, part 5, section 132 describes what is meant by and information order or order for information in connection with building liability order:

1. 'A person of a prescribed description may apply to the High Court for an information order.'
2. 'An “information order” is an order requiring a specified body corporate to give, by a specified time, specified information or documents relating to persons who are, or have at any time in a specified period been, associated with the body corporate.'
3. 'An information order may be made only if it appears to the court
   1. that the body corporate is subject to a relevant liability (within the meaning of section 130), and
   2. that it is appropriate to require the information or documents to be provided for the purpose of enabling the applicant (or the applicant and others) to make, or consider whether to make, an application for a building liability order.'
4. In this section

• “associate”: section 131 applies for the purposes of this section as it applies for the purposes of section 130;
• “building liability order”: see section 130;
• “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Secretary of State;
• “specified” means specified in the information order.

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