When buying a new home, one of the biggest worries is that there will be a delay with respect to the delivery date that was agreed at the beginning; In general, the developer proposes a reasonable delivery date, taking into account various factors that may affect the good planning of the work, but sometimes, despite having a clear plan, certain unscheduled or force majeure aspects may affect the final development of the work, which, if not managed correctly, may cause a delay in the delivery date, which, on certain occasions, may cause a delay in the delivery date, which, in some cases, may be due to a lack of planning. This can lead to a delay in the delivery date, which in some cases can be longer than the usual delay period of a couple of months, or even prolonged delays of more than a year, causing the buyer a certain amount of stress, as they will not be able to get their new home within the agreed timeframe.
When this happens, before making a claim to the developer or the seller of the property, it is very important that the date of delivery of the property is clearly stated before signing the contract and that a penalty clause for late delivery is included in the contract. It is also important to include in the signing of the contract the final price of the work including VAT and the agreed payment period, and to ensure that the developer has an insurance policy that can cover damages caused to the client if any of these agreements are breached.
Having clarified this situation, there are a number of possible scenarios:
- When the period is not excessively long, the promoter must compensate the client for damages for the time of delay, counting from the delivery date that was established when the contract was signed, and may be compensated for each day of delay from the date of non-delivery, if so stipulated in the contract.
- When one or more clauses of the contract are breached due to an excessive delay of the completion date, this could lead to the total cancellation of the contract, terminating the purchase contract, where the developer must return all payments made by the buyer, in addition to having to pay compensation for damages caused or even compensation for the non-delivery of the property, as long as this is indicated in the contract.
Alternatively, when a possible delay is foreseen during the development of the work, an agreement can be reached between both parties to grant an extension of the date initially signed, which will be added as a new clause to the initial contract, where the new date of completion of the work and delivery of the property will appear.
In conclusion, in order to be able to make a claim to the promoter or the seller of the new property, it must be clear that it is made for serious justified cause that affects the purchase contract that was signed, as long as it is indicated in the contract that the person in charge of carrying out the work is responsible for compensating for damages.
It is convenient to be advised by professional lawyers in the field, who analyse and supervise the case and, even more important, it is advisable to carry out a prior study of the purchase contract before signing it, in order to be calmer on this point.