In relation to construction and property development, a collateral warranty or schedule of third party rights may include a right for the beneficiary of the collateral warranty or third party rights to step in and take over the developer's rights as employer of a building contractor or a professional consultant, if the developer becomes insolvent or commits a serious and unremedied breach that would otherwise entitle the contractor or professional consultant to terminate the building contract or professional appointment, as the case may be.

Typically, this means that, if the developer becomes insolvent halfway through a project and breaches the building contract and the professional appointments, the beneficiary (often, but not necessarily, a funder) may step in and effectively become the developer, pay any sums due to the building contractor and the professional consultants and complete the project.

A collateral warranty or schedule of third party rights from a sub-contractor in favour of an employer may also include step-in rights, primarily to give the employer a contractual right to step in to the sub-contract, if the main contractor becomes insolvent.