Resumen de La delimitación de responsabilidades y garantías entre los agentes de la edificación por defectos de los edificios
Liabilities and guarantees for building defects, regulated by the Spanish Building Act (Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación) of November 5, 1999, are meant to offer proper protection to purchasers of properties. This regulation is expected to fill an existing legal gap with a specific law regulating the liabilities of the parties participating in the building process for any building defects.
The Supreme Court has been filling this gap in our legal system by a case-law interpretation of article 1591 of the civil code that tends to establish joint and several liability among the various agents involved in the building process. The Spanish Building Act has not expressly override Article 1591, therefore it has become case law when applying joint and several liability application.
This research paper deals with the analysis and setting of liability limits of the parties participating in the building process in case of property damages to buildings and/or housings from the legal point of view of individual liability as a rule and joint liability of the several parties that intervene in the building process as an exception. Indeed, we should agree that contracts signed with the purpose of legally organising the production and mediation of housing in the market are of two kinds: the construction contract signed between the developer and the constructor, the concept projector, the project supervisor-architect, the building technician, ... and the purchase contract signed between the developer and purchasers of properties, considering the possible mediation of a real estate agent. The analysis focuses on the fact and the legal possibility of each of the parties assuming their own responsibilities derived instead of each technical agent being indiscriminately responsible for any building defect or damage. This analysis should not leave aside finding a viable solution from a legal perspective that gives rise to a reasonable application from a social perspective.
The role
