How to claim against the building contractor or developer for construction defects

The building contractor won’t repair the construction defects in my home

It is a common occurrence: in new-build homes, bought by their new owners with great excitement, shortly after handover numerous defects appear, from small defects in finishes, aesthetic and of almost no importance, to more bothersome defects that affect the habitability of the homes: water ingress, damp, lack of thermal insulation, lack of sound insulation, hairline cracks, cracks, problems with installations, etc. This damage is not at all acceptable and must be claimed within the time limit.

How do you claim against the building contractor or developer?

First, once you have tried to claim amicably through the after-sales department, have recorded the items in the list of “touch-ups”, etc., and are quite certain that the contractor/developer will not repair them, or will not repair them properly (only “patching them up”), you should commission an expert report. In that expert report, an expert specialising in building pathology will photograph and list all the damage, analysing its origin and the liability of the parties involved in the construction, and will provide an appropriate repair proposal so that the damage does not reappear, together with an estimate of the cost of repairing it.

With this report, a lawyer specialising in construction law should serve a formal demand on the contractor/developer or on the party involved in the construction who is responsible, thereby interrupting the limitation period and giving them a short deadline to respond, either by setting out a schedule for the repairs recommended by the expert or by paying compensation for the budgeted amount. If this formal demand is rejected, a lawsuit would then have to be filed, based on the report already drafted.

Let specialist professionals advise you. Ask for a no-obligation quote. DPcon S.L. Reclamación Daños Constructivos.