Builders’ warranties – what are they, and how long do they last?
Historically the breach of a “warranty” was regarded as not as serious as the breach of a “condition”, which would give the client the right to cancel the building contract. But these days those old rules have been superseded by Part 2 Subpart 3 of the
Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017, so some warranties do actually give you the right to cancel the contract if they are breached. The same is true under the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993 and the Building Act 2004. Under the building contract you are free to state what repercussions there will be if a warranty is breached, and this will prevail over the Contract and Commercial Law Act, but not the other two Acts. In legal terms, we need to distinguish warranties from guarantees. In the context of the building industry, a warranty is a promise given by the builder to the property owner (or vice versa) in the building contract. A guarantee is a promise given by a third CONTINUE >>
LEGAL
In law, a warranty is simply a promise or an undertaking that is given to you by someone you have contracted with. For example, a builder warrants to his client that his work complies with the building code. If that promise or undertaking turns out not to be correct, the client can sue the builder for compensation.
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