It may be due to a lack of waterproofing
If the building lacks the necessary waterproofing on the foundation slabs and reinforced concrete walls, and has no adequate drainage network, water will get into the building, causing damp on its ground and third floors, which seriously affects the habitability of the building and prevents it from being used satisfactorily.
To claim for this damage, the lawsuit must be accompanied by an expert report, with photographs and videos, showing that there is no logical explanation for the damp and water accumulating inside the building.
In this regard, as set out in the Supreme Court judgment of 15 June 2016, “the developer, if also the seller, is obliged as such, by virtue of the contract, to hand over the property in a condition fit for the use for which it is intended, in accordance with that contract.
“ the developer’s liability arises both through the contractual channel of the sale and purchase and through statutory liability, which makes the developer ultimately and jointly and severally liable for construction defects “ (Supreme Court judgment of 22 October 2012)
In this case, the claim was brought through the first channel.
Along the same lines, the Supreme Court judgment of 7 January 2015 states that “building damage or defects are one thing and failure to meet the terms of the contract is another. Damage is the outcome that gives rise to the consequences provided for in the law, whereas failure to meet the terms of the contract does not give rise to ten-year liability, but to different actions and liabilities affecting the contractual relationship between buyers and sellers, whose legal basis lies not in article 1591 of the Civil Code but in articles 1101 and 1124 of the same Code, since they derive not from the construction as such but from the obligations agreed in the contract, and therefore do not merit being described as damage within the meaning of that provision.
This is the reason for the reference that the Spanish Building Act (Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación, LOE) now makes to contractual liability, whether through the vague and uncertain expression ‘without prejudice’ used in section 1 of article 17, or through the reference in section 9 to articles 1484 et seq. of the Civil Code, concerning the seller vis-à-vis the buyer, for bringing the actions specifically provided for latent defects“.
The developer and seller of the properties and their annexes did not hand them over in a condition fit for their intended use, with deficiencies that seriously affect the habitability of the building and prevent its satisfactory use, and is therefore liable, under article 1101 of the Civil Code, for the loss and damage resulting from the defective performance of its obligations as seller of those properties and their annexed elements.
Any questions?