Service
New build warranty and construction defects
If your building was handed over two or three years ago, the clock is already running. It started on the day the works were signed off, and nobody stops it. We offer this service because most administrators believe, rightly or wrongly, that chasing a developer is not their job.
The distinction almost everyone gets wrong
There are two separate clocks, and confusing them costs the whole claim.
Sets the warranties: ten years for defects affecting the foundations, supports, beams, floor slabs, load bearing walls or other structural elements; three years for defects affecting habitability; one year for finishes. All run from the signing of the certificate of completion and handover of the works.
Sets the limitation period: two years from when the damage occurs, that is, from when the defect becomes apparent. This period can expire long before the warranty does, and it is the one actually lost in practice.
In plain words: a fault being inside the ten year warranty does not mean you can claim whenever you like. If it appeared three years ago and nobody did anything, you may be too late to claim, even though the warranty is still open.
What Veridia does
- A deadline register for the development, based on the date of the certificate of completion, with an alert 120 days before each expiry.
- A dated incident register: when each defect appeared, who reported it, with a photograph and with the date it became apparent recorded, which is the fact that decides limitation.
- A documented claim against the developer and the builder, sent by a method with verifiable proof of delivery, not simply by email.
- Instructions for the technical report: written terms of reference covering scope, method, causation and attribution to each party, not just a list of items with a price.
- Tracking the programme the builder has committed to in writing, item by item and date by date.
The change that usually decides it. A claim that says "they never answer us" is weak. A claim that says "they promised thirteen dates in writing and missed every one without telling us" is much stronger. The difference is paperwork. You either build it from day one, or you cannot build it at all.
What Veridia does not guarantee
- We do not guarantee that a developer or builder will repair anything. We guarantee the claim is made in time, in writing, with proof of delivery.
- We do not guarantee the outcome of any vote. The general meeting decides, and sometimes it decides against our advice.
- We do not guarantee that a legal deadline survives if the information reaches us too late.
- We do not audit accounts. We reconcile bank statements, which is a different thing, and we call it by its name.
- We give no tax advice and no legal representation. We work with lawyers and surveyors billed directly to the community, with no margin for us.
Questions
When do the ten years of structural warranty start?
From the signing of the certificate of completion and handover of the works, under article 17 of Law 38/1999. Not from the first occupancy licence and not from the day keys were handed over for each home. If the community does not hold that certificate, obtaining it is the first task of the file.
Can the community claim for a defect inside a private home?
The community has standing to claim in respect of the common elements. Defects in private elements are claimed by each owner, although in practice it is worth grouping the claims so that a systemic pattern of defect is established by a single technical report.
Is a surveyor's report that only prices the repair any use?
It tells you what the repair costs and little else. A report that is useful in a claim has to establish the cause of the defect, attribute it to the party responsible, and fix the date it became apparent. Without those three things the other side argues causation and usually gains time.