Legal Advice on Construction Errors

Questioner

During the purchase process of a house, we had a building inspection carried out. We have since bought the house, but now it appears that all sorts of things are wrong. We contacted the party that carried out the inspection. The building inspector in question contacted us and reported that the document we received was not the complete document and that information was missing. Eventually, it came to light that something went wrong in the transfer of information to the party that arranged the building inspection. What are our rights now? Can we recover damages from the party that arranged the building inspection? And how do we find out exactly what our damages are? We acted in good faith on the basis of the report we received. There are major leaks and we have now requested quotes to remedy these defects. But this is probably not the last.

Lawyer

Day the construction company is liable for the damage caused by not sending all the information. I have to make a reservation because it must not have been clear to you that the information in question was not missing. (for example, was there an illogical order, were there pages missing?)

Lawyer

In fact, the engineer acknowledges that he did not do his job properly because he sent you an incomplete report. In that case, you can hold the engineer liable for the damage you suffered as a result. However, it could be that the engineer has limited the liability for damage in the agreement with you or in the general terms and conditions. Perhaps you could first call the building inspector and ask how he wants to solve this. If that doesn't work, you will have to take the formal route and send him a letter in which you hold him liable and claim damages.

Questioner

The biggest problem now is: how can the amount of compensation be determined? After all, the data that is needed to do this is precisely the data that is missing. Incidentally, the report seemed complete, it only contained information that was not included due to a digital error by the party we had approached when generating the report. The building expert, who had accepted the assignment from them again, is just as affected as we are: his good name is at stake.

Lawyer

It is not possible to indicate what a reasonable compensation is. For that you would have to know the details of the case. If you want, I would be happy to look at your case without obligation. You can contact me directly for that.

Lawyer

Day, Mr Martens is right but the construction company will certainly defend itself by saying that you raised the alarm too late because you could have known that the report sent to you was incomplete. (Were there no page numbers missing?) This is not the point at which the liability claim stands or falls but it is a threshold that must be taken. Then your question; you must now put the construction company in default by registered letter (this is possible due to the fatal term of purchase) and be liable for the consequential damage. You rightly wonder how to determine this, well these are also costs resulting from the consequential damage due to the default for which the construction company is liable, the costs of drawing up a new report by a third party. Unless the construction company still wants to send you the missing part as a damage limitation measure. By the way, a full statement of damages can also be drawn up later, the liability claim and the default letter are now really important. I can help you with this, you can contact me directly.

Lawyer

Thank you for your question. Apart from the liability of the building inspector in connection with her failure to execute the order to structurally inspect the house, the selling party can be made agreements under conditions for the damage that you suffer as a result of the (hidden) defects. The conditions for this are that the defects already existed when the house was purchased and that they hinder normal use of the house. This must therefore concern serious (structural) defects. Serious leakage can be considered a serious defect according to current case law. Finally, the defects must not have been or should not have been known to you at the time of purchasing the property. That is to say, it must concern defects that could not easily have been discovered by you. If these Conditions are met, the selling party must be given notice of default by registered letter and summoned to remedy the defects found, failing which the other party will become liable for damages.