Legal claims against developers and building contractors in times of pandemic.
The number of claims against building contractors and developers for construction defects is growing exponentially.
This may be due to two factors:
1) On the one hand, it is said that there is currently a situation similar to the property bubble, in which the property sales and construction market has grown very considerably. 2021 exceeded the best home sales figures of the last 14 years, comparable only to pre-crisis figures from 2008. Specifically, from January to September 2021, 421,267 homes were sold according to the INE (Spanish National Statistics Institute). Even if this may also be partly due to the backlog of unsold homes from 2020, these figures point to a very notable increase in property purchases. But this growth does not mean that homes are being built to a higher quality.
2) On the other hand, because of the current pandemic and the mobility restrictions themselves, not to mention lockdowns, quarantines, etc., we spend more time in our homes. Before, we did not attach importance to it or did not notice; we had no time to check whether the house we bought actually matched the contracted specifications, or simply whether it met minimum habitability requirements. But now we are more critical and we ask ourselves: if the home had a B-rated energy certificate, why does air leak through the “top-quality windows”? Is it normal to wait 5 minutes for hot water to come out of the shower? If I can hear my neighbour’s television while working from home, could it be due to poor sound insulation?
Tolerance of this type of construction defect has come to an end, as we spend much more time in our homes and expect a minimum level of comfort.
As a result, litigation against developers and building contractors is increasing, and every week we file numerous lawsuits claiming for construction defects. To do so, you should know that there are guarantee periods for claiming against those responsible, and that you need to commission an expert report so that an expert in building pathology can assess all the damage, find the source of the problem, propose a repair and quantify it, so that it can be claimed from the relevant building contractor or developer.
If this is your case, contact us.
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