construction problems in Spain Archives

Construction problems in Spain

Do you have construction problems in Spain – does your property have worrying cracks or flaws that seem strange or out of place? Are you concerned that there may be a construction problem with your swimming pool or some part of your property? Do you think that you may have a potential court case for some defect caused either by your builder or the original constructor? Well, if so – then contact us at Building Defects Spain because we specialise in investigating and remedying building defects throughout Spain. We have an expert, British building surveyor (qualified in the UK and Spain) who is insured to work in Spain – and who has many years’ experience of Spanish properties (and their problems). He is constantly surveying properties throughout Spain and has an intimate knowledge of the problems associated with Spanish construction Furthermore, our surveyor has taken part in numerous court cases…

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Effective litigation lawyer in Spain for construction disputes

It is, of course, no secret that a significant amount of the building work in Spain undertaken during the long Spanish economic boom was defective. There were quite simply not enough skilled workers around to ensure that construction was handled by time served professionals – and this was compounded by a lack of effective building control by the authorities. Meanwhile, some greedy and irresponsible developers ‘cut corners’ to save money and speed up the completion of properties. The result has been predictable – with many Spanish properties built over the past fifteen years suffering from a wide array of defects. These range from extremely serious foundation issues (in some cases leading to property collapse) to more minor concerns over damp ingress or poor insulation (both for heat and sound). Of course, if you own a new (built within the past 10 years) property in Spain that has building problems then…

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Group court actions in Spain, for construction related problems

Over the past few years we have dealt with a number of major group court actions in Spain relating to building defects in Spain. In fact, some of the cases have been very high profile and have involved large estates, where many of the properties have suffered from serious structural problems. One estate that we have dealt with, for example, was built upon a clay substrate that was unstable. This has caused the total collapse of a number of properties and considerable movement in a lot of others. As you can imagine, this has been very distressing for the property owners concerned, who have seen their dream properties crumble before their very eyes. Worse still, for many, was the seemingly impossible task of taking successful legal action in Spain against a very large and powerful developer. That is enough to test the strength of the hardiest property owner! Of course,…

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Suing builders in Spain, litigation or dispute resolution?

Building disputes in Spain are, sadly, not uncommon. Indeed, hardly a day goes by when I do not receive a call or e-mail from someone who has some sort of construction problem in Spain. In fact, as I have stated before, the construction of new properties in Spain over the past few years has been very variable. I have certainly seen fine work but, all too often, I come across defective buildings in Spain. Quite frankly, the level of skill used in Spanish construction has not always been good and this has been made worse by lax (or sometimes no!) building control. Of course, it is not only new buildings that have suffered from poor work. The same is frequently the case with reform projects. The latter are notorious for going over-budget and it is far from unknown for property owners to end up with a quality of construction and…

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General building defects in Spain, builders obligation on new build properties

Fortunately, Spanish builders do have general responsibilities imposed upon them by Spanish law when building new properties in Spain. These are obligations that go beyond the requirement to have an insurance backed 10 year building guarantee (the Decenal). Indeed, the Ley 38/1999 de 5 de Noviembre (‘Ordenación de la Edificación’) states that a builder has an obligation to: Correct identified snagging points (normally assessed 15–30 days prior to signing the Escritura/Completion) Correct just about any defect (other than normal wear and tear) during the first 12 months following completion of the build Rectify functional issues that affect the enjoyment or habitability of a property for the following two years (i.e. a builder’s responsibilities run for the first three years after completion of a new build property in Spain) Unfortunately, the devastating fall in the property market in 2008 has meant that many builders simply fail to respond to requests to…

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