The defence argument most often used by those responsible for construction when damage appears in a property is lack of maintenance by the homeowners’ association or by the owners.
They almost always claim that the owners’ neglect in cleaning, checking and maintaining the communal installations and elements speeds up the ageing process and even causes the defects. Although most of the time this is not true, since serious defects originate in their real aetiology or cause, that is, poor workmanship or poor design, and this argument is a litigation strategy to escape liability (as are most of the arguments used by the parties in these proceedings), it is very important not to neglect this point, which can be very damaging when a judge, in the judgment, discounts items of damage or even acquits the defendants.
That maintenance must be recorded in the Homeowners’ association maintenance log handed over by the developer together with the building logbook. For this purpose, we attach as an example a model Maintenance log from the Colegio Oficial de Aparejadores y Arquitectos Técnicos de Madrid.
Having an item in the homeowners’ association budget for cleaning and maintenance, having specialist companies take care of it, frequently cleaning drains, roof gutters and rainwater collection, touching up metal elements with anti-rust paint, restoring and replacing removable elements, checking and monitoring the condition of the installations with the statutory inspections, etc., are basic tasks for the proper maintenance of the building.
Above all, apart from the necessary maintenance of the building, it is very important for the success of a claim for construction defects that, during visits by the opposing experts, regardless of the fact that the construction defects are there, the communal areas are clean, since it is enough for them to find a blocked drain to argue that the leaks or damp that have appeared are due to that, weeds growing in the joints to argue that the cracks are due to that, or even ball marks on a wall to be the cause of through-cracks in a floor slab. We have come across these excuses, and others even more far-fetched, in these proceedings. That is why we warn you that they are easy to avoid with good maintenance.
Any questions?