Damp caused by crumbling mortar on the façade

My residential development has damp coming from the façade. Can we claim?

Enquiry: We have damage to the façade mortar, not everywhere, only in some areas. In places, sand or cement is coming away from the mortar (I don’t know much about it), in communal areas (I think this is why a brick has come loose), and 3 or 4 neighbours have already had damp or leaks in the building, which we don’t know whether they are coming through the façade for this reason. The development is 8 years old. The developer has given some neighbours a liquid for waterproofing façades (but I think it is a temporary remedy rather than a lasting one). And we imagine more neighbours will have similar problems. The developer also left me a liquid to apply to the façade on my terrace so that sand would not keep falling off…., but it starts falling off again two or three years after applying the product. Answer to the enquiry: The solution offered by the developer is, of course, the most convenient and easiest one… for the selling company, but certainly not for the owners or the homeowners’ association. The owners cannot be expected to bear the cost of the repair, still less by simply applying a waterproofing liquid to the façades. It is nothing more than a cosmetic cover-up and a patch. Your case rests on two key points: First, you can only claim against the developer, since the other guarantees under the LOE have become time-barred (against the building contractor, architect and quantity surveyor), given the age of the building, because the defect you describe falls within “habitability defects”, which have a three-year guarantee. An essential condition is that the developer is not in insolvency proceedings or has not disappeared, and that it has assets, that is, that it is solvent. So, if you are not sure that this is the case, we do not advise you to incur any costs. Second, the building’s defect appears to be that the mortar is poor quality or has been made with unsuitable material, or some other defect that is impossible to identify with the naked eye. If the defect you describe is isolated and covers a small area, we would not advise you to start proceedings either, as the expert and legal costs would be higher than the repair itself. However, if inspection holes and analysis of mortar samples taken from different points of the building were to conclude that the mortar will turn to powder over time, then it would indeed be worth bringing a court claim, provided that the requirements set out in the first point are met. These inspection holes and tests will be supplemented by a thorough expert report, which will establish the building’s defect, propose a solution and set out the cost of repair, both of the defect itself and of its consequences, namely water ingress and damp inside the homes of numerous owners. Once the expert report has been completed, the lawsuit against the developer for breach of contract will be prepared, and the entire proceedings will be handled through to judgment, so that the developer repairs the damage or pays compensation, allowing the homeowners’ association to meet the cost of the repairs.