Liability for Construction Problems: Who Pays?

Questioner

We recently renovated under the supervision of an architect. An extension (conservatory) was built, including a new kitchen. The new extractor hood is connected to the existing duct. It now appears that this duct does not have sufficient capacity to extract the air from the new extractor hood. The extractor hood has a capacity of 800m3 and the duct is now measured at 400m3. Our question now is, who is responsible for this error, which means the extraction is not working properly? The contractor, the architect or the kitchen supplier? I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards MV

Lawyer

This is a difficult issue to assess for now as it is not clear to me whether this capacity was known to you. If this was not the case, the kitchen specialist should have informed you about this so that you could have mentioned this to the architect and/or contractor, if this was known to you and you informed the architect or contractor, then this is where the error lies and the existing pipe should have been tested for this in advance and/or immediately replaced with a correct drain

Lawyer

Indeed, it may be that all three parties could be held liable, depending on the precise circumstances and what you knew or could have known. It is then up to you to put the correct liable party in default. You may also send the information to me so that I can assess which party acted incorrectly.

Lawyer

That depends on what is described in the specifications and who supervised the construction for you. In these types of issues, it is important that you are assisted by an experienced lawyer with knowledge of construction law. I have a lot of experience with these types of cases. You can contact me for advice.