When the dream of having a new apartment cracks

GironaThe luxury Blau de Mar building in Playa de Aro, a spectacular six-story building with a communal pool on the seafront, overlooking the sea, could be a metaphor for the difficulties and helplessness that come with buying a new property with serious construction defects. More than a year ago, this building suffered a serious collapse of the concrete cornices on the balconies, which from an upper floor swept away the remaining overhangs like a house of cards. "A very serious accident that could have caused a disaster. We still don't know why it happened or when it will be fixed!" says the only neighbor who was sunbathing in the communal area last Sunday, prudently staying away from the balconies. The overhangs of the façade that suffered the collapse were completely demolished to prevent further fragments from breaking off, and the other façade has been replaced with cumbersome metal supports that detract from the aesthetics of the apartments that were advertised as "exclusive homes" and "a safe bet for." Prices for these apartments exceeded half a million euros, with some reaching as high as 800,000. According to the real estate experts consulted, price is no guarantee of quality in a new apartment.

Not all buildings have such serious defects, but it is difficult to find a development without one or another complaint. There are several newly built buildings in the Vilablareix urban development area, on the southern outskirts of Girona, that have construction defects, and their owners are battling with construction companies to get them repaired. These range from minor cases, such as apartments being delivered very dirty, with plaster and paint residue on the floor because the mosaic tiles were not properly protected, to more serious ones, such as leaks in the parking lots, water ingress through the enclosures, and discrepancies between what they were promised on the plans and what was promised. In this last aspect, many residents were disappointed to see that the digital designs (renders), which decisively influenced the purchase of the apartments, did not entirely correspond to reality. Many residents were told that there were no construction materials in stock to build exactly what was planned. "The images were truly spectacular, but in many cases they included things that were not included in the contract text. We wondered if we could sue them for misleading advertising," explains one of the recent owners of an apartment in these developments.

Living with the bricklayers

Another common complaint, which almost never results in a complaint, is failure to meet delivery deadlines. Developers use force majeure as excuses, which can range from a lack of material supplies to a lack of labor. Most buyers of these troubled properties don't want to be identified, either themselves or the developer, as they trust that the defects will eventually be fixed, as they have repeatedly been promised. The rush to deliver the apartments as close as possible to the agreed deadline and the pending finishes mean that in many cases the construction workers are coexisting with the newly moved tenants. One of the owners of one of the apartments admits that they spent months practically "coexisting" with the builders. One of the things that surprised her most was that most of the workers were of foreign origin and didn't speak Catalan, Spanish, or English, and that they had great difficulty making themselves understood by the construction foremen and other officials.

The purchase with the fewest guarantees

The manager of the Girona Chamber of Urban Property, Miquel Costa, regrets that consumers have more protections when purchasing any household appliance than when buying a home, when for many citizens the latter is the most important purchase they will ever make. "Buyers have extremely limited defense tools against defects in new homes or breaches of contract by construction companies," he points out. Since the implementation of the LOE (Building Regulation Act), the deadline for filing claims is three years from the completion of construction, a period which, according to Costa, is excessively short: "Sometimes the affected party has purchased the apartment a year after the completion of the work, or it takes a while to move in, or there is some other construction defect. Furthermore, some effects of poor construction don't emerge until some time later," Costa points out.

The cost of the claim

The manager of the Chamber of Urban Property also complains about the lack of protection for buyers due to the high cost of taking legal action. Filing a claim in court requires the affected party to hire an expert to assess the damage and the cost of repairs, a lawyer to defend them, and a solicitor. In addition to the financial cost, legal proceedings are "cumbersome and lengthy," which is why many buyers give up and do not opt for this option. Costa admits that there have "always" been cases of noncompliance by construction companies but adds that the problem worsens when "construction is rushed," as has been the case in recent years.

Ghost Companies

"It's true that there are more reputable builders who fix defects when buyers complain, but unfortunately there are cases where amicable complaints are fruitless and force citizens to resort to legal action," says Costa. Buyers have a particularly difficult time in cases where the new building has been constructed by a company created for the purpose and then disappears once the work is completed.

Lawyer and mediator Ricard Hospital, of the RHP Advocats law firm, also shares the perception that in some projects "the rush to deliver the work is detrimental to quality." They have detected an increase in inquiries regarding minor defects (poor installation of parquet or enclosures), habitability issues (leaks, insufficient sound insulation, and deficiencies in plumbing and air conditioning), and even, to a lesser extent, structural issues (cracks due to poor foundations, cracks in the pixels).

Hospital recommends, in the event of a claim, collecting all possible documentation: sales advertisements, photos, videos, renders, plans and even emails with the seller or the real estate agency. "If the render "The fact that a claim was made in advertising or contractual documentation to attribute specific elements (e.g., a communal swimming pool, natural wood finishes, a garden terrace, etc.) may be valuable as evidence of misleading advertising or lack of conformity." The lawyer at RHP Advocats admits that many people give up on claiming because they feel the process will be long and expensive, but warns them about the recently implemented MASC (Adequate Means of Dispute Resolution), which can yield results without the need for court. He also recommends class action lawsuits, which significantly reduce litigation costs.

Price reduction or compensation

In the event of a breach of contract, the options are diverse, ranging from reparation, price reduction, and compensation for damages to termination of the contract and reimbursement of the money. "The advice I would give is not to give up and seek advice quickly: the sooner the claim is filed, the more options you should have for reparation or compensation," says Ricard Hospital.

The new bubble

And amidst the headaches caused by construction defects, residents of the growing areas near Girona, such as Vilablareix, are surprised to see how developers are selling almost everything off-plan, delivering apartments with significant delays, and prices are constantly rising with each new building. Journalist Meritxell Comas recently denounced this in an opinion piece in the Zamora's Opinion Over the course of four weeks, he called a real estate agency in Girona, asking for the lowest price for a development that was about to go on sale. On the first call, a salesperson told him the smallest apartment would start at €450,000. In subsequent calls, the price increased by another €50,000 each week, eventually reaching €600,000. Perhaps this is an anecdote about poor communication among real estate development companies, but the frivolous way in which prices rise in the real estate sector is still surprising.