Architects – Rights and duties

Are architects exploited?

Yes, they are. There are cases where people try to take advantage of them and hold them liable beyond their professional obligations.

Some architects are subcontracted in a rather irregular way, by taking advantage of a lack of work, inexperience or some other cause or factor. We have had queries from an architect who was given a professional commission and, when he went to visit the site, found that the building was already more than 50% built, without his having even drawn up the project plans. The contractor’s intention was to build first and then have the project adapted to what had been built, when it should be done exactly the other way round. Faced with this situation, the architect put his foot down and wanted to withdraw from the project; however, given his inexperience or lack of work, he renegotiated the commission and the contractor finally undertook to follow his instructions, so the architect eventually drew up the Basic and Execution Project for submission to the relevant Town Hall and to apply for the building permit. On a further site visit, he found that the contractor had carried on with the works, which were 95% complete, and he was asked to issue his certificate of completion, without having been given any opportunity to direct the works and without being satisfied with what had been built, since it complied neither with regulations nor, of course, with his Execution Project. Faced with this situation, the architect has to make a decision.

• Either he accepts the situation, gets paid his professional fees, and accepts the works and their defects, which is extremely dangerous, since he is legally responsible for the works and may be held liable in the future, whether under the LOE or for breach of contract.
• Or, on the contrary, he does not accept the situation, formally withdraws before the Association of Architects, setting out the facts, and runs the risk of not being paid or, at the very least, of having to go to court to be paid for the work actually done. In this case he will have no legal liability for construction defects.

In either case, this architect will need legal advice, since one way or another he will have a problem.