The importance of legal services in disputes and recovery of penalty from developer
When purchasing an apartment, each buyer hopes that the quality of the living quarters transferred by the developer will be according to the terms of the agreement and the quality requirements set out in legislation.
According to the law, the developer that is doing his work on the construction of an apartment building, have to follow the binding requirements for this type of work. However, the developer quite often violates the standards and Sanitary Regulations and Norms during construction and that leads to rejection of the quality of the object of construction from the standards.
Often, during the operation of the facility, such defects in the quality of an apartment may be revealed as crooked walls, floors and there are different roughnesses, lack of soundproofing, etc.
In such a case, the Customer as a natural person has reasons as a consumer to require the developer at his choice:
- gratuitous address of defects;
- price reduction for the renovation of the apartment;
- cost recovery for the address of defects of construction internally or by third parties;
It is sometimes impossible to identify the defects of the apartment without an expert examination. Furthermore, defects are not only necessary identified, but it is also necessary to establish the cost to address.
It is possible to present claims to the developer for defects of the transferred apartment during the guarantee period that is during 5 years from the date of transfer of the apartment by the developer to the Customer and the signing of the statement of release and acceptance. The fact of signing the statement of release and acceptance of the apartment mustn't relieve the developer from addressing the defects (hidden defects) identified during the operation within the guarantee period.
Sometimes it is almost impossible to obtain redress of your rights without the assistance of a lawyer. Especially, when you have to protect your rights in court. The procedure of application to a court has to be done according to the requirements both when writing a statement of claim and the procedure of leading the case in court. A person who does not understand such a level of detail can not handle it.
Penalty for violation of the quality of the executed works
The penalty is a fine that a developer must pay for failure to fulfil the obligations within the fixed term for the voluntary implementation of the commitments made:
- ill-timed transfer of the apartment;
- When filing a claim on the defects of the quality of the transferred apartment, he did not address the identified defects on time.
The term for the voluntary fulfilment by the developer of the obligations imposed by the Customer is 10 days from the moment receipt of the claim.
Settlement of claims of the Customer voluntarily does not relieve the developer from paying a penalty for violating the terms of works realization.
The penalty for refusing to address the identified defects of the quality of the apartment is ordered in the amount of 1 per cent of the cost of the apartment indicated in the sale agreement for every day that passes without payment of non-fulfilment of binding requirements.
For violation of the terms for the transfer of an apartment by the developer, a penalty is provided for every day that passes without payment in the amount of 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank in the Russian Federation, valid at the time of fulfilment of obligations, multiplied by the price of the apartment specified in the contract of sale and multiplied by per day of delay.
The penalty must be calculated per day of delay until the actual fulfilment of the requirements of a Customer.
Except for the penalty, the Customer is able to receive compensation for the moral damage.
If the developer refuses to pay voluntarily compensation for construction defects or transfer the finished apartment, within the terms that were identified in the agreement, the Customer is able to apply to the court for the protection of his rights. The consumer as a natural entity is released from paying the state fee when filing a claim for the protection of his rights as a consumer.
In the court, except for the costs of addressing defects, penalties, moral damages, in case of satisfying the requirements the developer has to pay a fine in the amount of 50% of the amount that is decided by the court.
The advantages of working with us
Working with the specialists of the Tsentralny okrug Law Firm gives lots of opportunities:
- you save your time and the involvement of a client in the process is minimal;
- we accompany during the dispute with the developer on a turn-key basis;
- we have a significant practice that allows forecasting results before applying to the court;
- Determination of the prospects of the dispute with the developer.
Author is Irina Volodina