Work Carried out for the Benefit of Individual Properties

We are a community of detached Villas and town houses. There is a communal pool between the town houses. Two of the properties have been affected by damp in their underbuilds during rain storms. The water is coming from the rain falling on the area occupied by the garden surrounding the pool.

The builder resolved the problem for the occupied property by concreting and tiling the area in the communal garden so that water ran out of the communal area onto the private road. At the time the other property was still owned by the builder and no remedial work was carried out. Now that the second property has been sold the new owners are experience a similar damp problem and have asked the community to concrete and tile the area of the garden in the same way as the first property. The builder has been asked to do this but will not as he apparently has no funds.

My contention is that the reason for the damp is not a community issue and that the owner should take action against the builder to fix what is clearly an inherent fault in the construction of the property. In the event that the builder cannot be made to complete the work then responsibilty should fall upon the owner. I might point out that underbuilds in other houses in the area are also affected by damp even though they are not in the vicinity of the pool gardens and nobody is suggesting that the community should pay to fix their problems.

Does any other community have similar issues, if so how were they resolved?

Thanks.

Would this not be covered by the seguro decenal which is the 10 years buidling insurance??? Or is the property over 10 years old??

Might be worth a try.

Joan

Damp in properties is a serious issue here in Spain!

It's due to insufficient damp proofing of the basement of an individual property, however if you act as a community on this under the 'building guarantee' then you will stand a better chance of resolving the issue.

You stated: "The water is coming from the rain falling on the area occupied by the garden surrounding the pool."

As there is insufficient drainage in the garden area, thus affecting the property in question, and it can be proved that this is the 'only' cause of this damp, then it may well be a community problem and the community will have to pay to sort it out.

Try and claim of the community insurance, as this may be covered by your policy.

How old is the development?