If the new house has defects, it is not possible to claim late payment penalties from the builder. Penalties are only provided for in the event of late delivery, indicates the Court of Cassation, and not for the period which could run until the rectification of the defects noted upon receipt.
Reception is the formality which brings together contractors and owners in order to control the completion of the work and their compliance with the contract, to examine their proper completion and to note, in a report, the client’s acceptance with or without reservations. . In order to remove these possible reservations which point out the apparent defects, the contractor must then make the necessary rectifications.
As long as these rectifications have not been noted, the reservations are not raised and the late payment penalties are due, claimed a client while waiting to be able to move in. But the judges rejected his request.
Late delivery penalties cannot be less than 1/3000th of the agreed price per day
The construction and housing code only provides for penalties for late delivery, they observed, and not for the subsequent period which concerns the necessary rectifications. However, the house is delivered on the date of the reception formalities, whether reservations are then made or not.
According to the law, a contract for the construction of an individual house with provision of a plan, that is to say with the design mission, provides for late delivery penalties which cannot be less, per day of delay, 1/3000th of the agreed price.
(Cass. Civ 3, 28.9.2023, C 22-18.237).
Reproduction forbidden.