The court-appointed expert in the enforcement of a judgment.
In proceedings to claim for construction defects, once the declaratory phase is over, that is, once there is a final judgment against the defendants, what happens if the defendants fail to comply?
Where the judgment orders the defendants to do something, that is, where they are obliged to repair a series of defects, a maximum period is set for voluntary compliance.
What happens if the voluntary period expires and they have not carried out the repairs?
When the voluntary period expires, or when there is an ancillary procedure to determine the loss, a court-appointed expert is chosen from the list of experts registered with the Court to value the damage in the proceedings to enforce the judgment.
What must the court-appointed expert do?
This expert must base their work on the order made in the judgment and on the reports accepted in the judgment. They will normally also have to visit the property in person to assess the damage that must be repaired and quantify it, updating it where appropriate to current prices.
Amount of compensation.
The court-appointed expert must not pass judgment, nor remove or add any item of damage, since the scope of their expert work is limited by the enforcement order to valuing the defects that the judgment debtors have been ordered to remedy. As a general rule, the Courts approve the expert’s valuation in full, but if there is any significant discrepancy between the judgment and the valuation, it will be challenged and the valuation may be amended.
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