Performance Bond: Be Aware of the Procedure!
The owner of a house under construction complained of defects and delays after accepting the work with reservations. The judges ordered the contractor to pay for the repairs based on the warranty of satisfactory completion. Upon review of the case, the Court of Cassation overturned this decision. It noted that the warranty of perfect completion must be invoked within one year of acceptance of the work, but legal action is admissible only if the defects have been previously reported to the contractor, who, in the absence of an agreement, must be served with a formal notice. This formal notice must then be served after acceptance of the work but before the filing of a lawsuit. However, in this case, while the summons was indeed served within one year of the acceptance of the work, there is no evidence that the defects had been notified to the contractor prior to the summons (since the summons itself cannot serve as a formal notice). The owner’s claim therefore cannot succeed.
