Many are the doubts of an technical expert who invade when claiming any circumstance caused by acts related to the building or construction that happens by an expert report before a sale, inheritance, relationships between the agents involved in the building process, damage caused to buildings in warranty periods…etc.
It is then when we should ask ourselves... Which What are our rights and obligations? What are the deadlines? of claim and the guarantee that I have? What to do if my home is delivered to me with damage?, Who are responsible for the state in the one my home is delivered to me? How can I get advice to make a claim?.
To write the article, we first asked the who have experience in "hidden defects" and construction problems household. In this case to Dpcon who are experts in claim for construction defects have given us advice tools that we should review to adequately justify the expert opinion (At the end there is a very good video).
Secondly, many other questions are answered in the Extensive legislation that exists and affects reporting Experts in building. We want to remember that they are protected by the Law those daily matters that we carry out when carrying out any operation real estate, aspects related to architecture or especially related to construction or works directly.
Content menu:
The most frequently used documents are:
We believe that to understand the process we should first see the following scheme where it is specified step by step by mode example what are the actions we should take to draft expert opinions or reports experts. Within a process there are two modalities of expert reports through:
Always, professional advice is necessary, Well, in the event that a claim results in a legal claim it will be necessary to have a resounding defense before a court, which will be endorsed by a professional expert on who will make the expert report that will defend the evidence in the process.
To do this, you must have a clear and well-defined methodology defined, sufficient legal training, knowledgeable both judicial and procedural dynamics, the regulations applicable in each case, the existing jurisprudence and ensure a resounding defense before a court and without any type of corporatism before the intervening professionals such as building agents.
The judicial expert or forensic expert is a gifted professional of specialized and recognized knowledge, through its higher education, which provides information or opinion founded to the courts of justice on the points disputes that are the subject of his opinion.
There are two types of experts, judicially appointed and those proposed by one or both parties (and then accepted by the judge), both exercise the same influence in the trial.
In Spain, the expert has to have certified his knowledge, so it is necessary to provide a degree official or knowledge of the official state title of Architect or Technical Architect in the case of Building. The main applicable legislation is:
The Condition of the judicial expert according to the Law of L.E.C. (Civil Procedure) defines in its article 340.1:
1. The experts must have the official title that corresponds to the subject matter of the opinion and to the nature of it.
And in the Criminal Procedure Law in its Article 457 contemplates that the Judicial Experts can be or no headlines.
The expert provides the judge with the expert opinion or well-founded opinion of a person specialized in certain branches of the knowledge that the judge is not obliged to master, for the purpose to provide arguments or reasons for the formation of his conviction.
The expert opinion may be provided based on the mere knowledge of the expert, or to the application of such knowledge in the evaluation of a certain test.
One of the least studied responsibilities, at least in form integrated into the judicial process, is undoubtedly that of the expert, and is perhaps the most important subject in the stage of investigation and probative value of the course of a given procedure.
Although in the field of construction we can find many cases and therefore a great variety of reports, among the most common we can identify the different types of expert reports in:
With so many obstacles that can arise from a work and as a reminder. We attach the following image of pathologies most common (hidden vices) that appear in houses and buildings. We find it interesting and valuable to see with the naked eye where we will have the most widespread problems:
On the subject of on-site responsibilities, as long as nothing happens or no accident, everything is fine, but when something happens if it has not been clearly specified what is the position and responsibility of each technician can turn into a huge headache. A model outline for to begin to understand would be: (When clicking on the image, a new window to see it better)
Due to the importance of the previous scheme and the quality of the document, can be accessed from the Report «Critical analysis of responsibilities of the different agents involved and Integration of Occupational Risk Prevention in the Process of Edificación»… Acessla report HERE.
In the case of claims filed related to the building process and once it has been exposed to the advisers the problem that has been caused with the house we have to take into account the terms and guarantees provided by law for make a claim.
The Building Regulation Law (LOE) that entered into into force on May 6, 2006, regulates the obligations and responsibilities of the natural or legal persons who intervene in the construction of a property in order to protect the interests of home buyers.
This Law establishes, in its article 17, three terms of guarantee based on the damage caused. The computation of the term guarantee will begin from the date of receipt of the work without reservations or from the rectification of these. This is a term of expiration (not of prescription) that does not admit interruption or suspension. So it is set:
Those damages that affect the elements of completion and finishes of the works (Chopped Tiles, tiles, broken or chipped tiles, missing of mechanisms, lack of polishing or polishing, lack of paint, carpentry closures, lumps in the walls, Chips, door collapses, construction dirt, scratches of carpentry or glass, etc…)
Are those constructive defects or vices and of the facilities that cause non-compliance with the requirements of habitability established by law.
They can be such as those related to hygiene, health, noise, environmental protection, tightness, energy saving energy, thermal insulation and functional aspects; (As per For example, humidity on roofs, sound transmission, closures of windows, excessive thermal differences, humidity of condensation, clogging of collectors and unprovoked drains, damage to untampered electrical installations, leaks of water, rupture of cisterns and other mechanisms, damages in air conditioning, television signal capture defects and telephony, puddles, etc…).
During the first ten years the guarantee covers defects that affect the foundation, supports, beams, floors, walls of load or structural elements and that compromise the mechanical resistance and stability of the building.
These are the most difficult damages to determine, because in the laboratory tests are required in most cases geotechnical surveys to determine the extent of the damage.
We must not forget that not all cracks are signs of structural damage, most of them are caused by thermal expansion, unequal behavior between dissimilar materials, shrinkage, mechanical instability other than structural movements etc... Only a technician specialist or expert can detect and determine the nature of fissures or cracks.
The LOE in its article 18 establishes that the actions for demand responsibility for defects or vices of the building prescribe two years from the date of the damage, so obviously the damage has to occur in the warranty period and subsequently the injured party has of the aforementioned term to file a claim.
However, it is advisable to inform the promoter and constructor immediately and in writing (if possible by Buro-fax) of the defects detected.
We must know that in the case of complaints about deficiencies, all the agents that participate in the construction of the house or building we have obligations before the owners and third party purchasers of real estate or part of the same.
The main building agents listed by the LOE They are: the Developer, the Designer (architect), the Builder, the Project Manager and Execution Director (architect and technical architect), entities and laboratories of quality control, product suppliers and even owners and users, who must keep in good condition of the building through proper use and maintenance established in the technical documentation (Building Book) that you will be bound to receive.
As a guarantee of payment of the corresponding compensation In each case, the promoter has to take out insurance material damages or security of ten years and another of three.
Every example of an expert report that we have seen at the beginning of the article is written in a certain way and must to follow more or less specific guidelines:
In most cases it is based on UNE 197001 – General criteria for reporting and expert opinions . And it will have a price according to work of the technician and many other factors.
How to explain what the wording would be for each part within of an article is not viable before the different types of judicial processes. We attach an excellent document of preparation of reports and expert opinions from Check the CAAT Valencia from HERE. (Which we can also see different models and expert reference templates for each section)
From the following video is a real example of report pathology expert, explaining the counter-reports and sentence.
To complement the article and being that in the document previous we already have some typical models, we wanted to add some How many expert report templates in PDF and in DOC (Word) to be able to download them for free (they belong to the Official College of Technical Architects of Lanzarote – Son direct downloads. Note: The following downloads have been eliminated from the College, we are sorry that we cannot provide the information that was very useful. As data, and not being free, from Ficherotecnia.com you can buy templates example ).
It is difficult to find models that we can use in a free. So if anyone knows any repository or place where we can access different templates, please, that add a comment and we will improve this section.
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