According to article 4 of the legislative decree 122/2005 the construction company is obliged to deliver to the buyer, at the moment of the transfer of ownership, an insurance policy as guarantee for eventual serious construction defects affecting the property. Such insurance has a cover of 10 years. A good piece of advice is requesting the Notary to make explicit reference to the insurance policy in the Deed of Sale. This article is aimed at explaining what type of defects would be covered under this guarantee.

The notion of a “serious construction defect” has developed substantially throughout the time thanks in large part to jurisprudence. Originally such a notion only included defects involving prejudice to the safety and stability of the property. At present this notion has a larger meaning. It includes all the defects that could provoke a significant decrement to the normal use of the property. As a consequence the guarantee will cover all the damages that might have an impact on the regular use of the property.

If the construction defect has an impact on the regular use of the property, it could also concern secondary elements of the construction. The use of poor or inadequate materials can be considered as a serious defect, if this jeopardizes habitation and implies maintenance works. A good example of serious defect can be the case of  detachment of tiles in some areas of the apartment. Another example can be the case of  bad sealing of the roof with consequential water infiltrations. All of these examples clearly explain that the notion of “serious construction defects” is rather large.

The law limits the right to receive such insurance policy to buyers who are private individuals. According to a more restrictive interpretation the buyer should also be defined as a “consumer”; this means that he should be entitled to the policy only if he bought the property for personal use. The consequence is that any entrepreneurial or professional use of the property would exclude such right.

The party having the obligation to offer the insurance policy is the construction company, therefore the buyer should not only claim this right but also be aware of the responsability of the contractor concerning defects in construction works.