Reader’s Opinion | The concept of error liability in housing trade needs to be clarified

It is worrisome if unfounded claims about a mistake in the housing transaction become more common in the absence of an unambiguous concept of responsibility for mistakes.

Marianne Saine discussed in his writing (The fault liability of the seller of the house is generally misunderstood, HS Opinion 1.2.) meritoriously important matter. It is probably the case, as Saine stated, that some buyers do not understand that, for example, many of the structures of a 60-year-old apartment are already at the end of their life cycle, and that the resulting structural defect is not a mistake in the transaction, but a characteristic of the old house.

Then there are also those buyers who do understand that the structural damage due to the end of the structure’s life cycle is not a mistake in the housing transaction, but they nevertheless knowingly and purposefully demand a price reduction from the seller through their lawyer for a structural defect that occurred after the sale, which is actually the responsibility of the housing company to repair. The claim is typically unreasonable and unspecific, and the statement of claim is aggressive and threatens to sue in the district court.

See also  Football One place for the World Cup is still open, here are the blocks

In this situation, the seller also has to get a lawyer, and the balling between price reduction demands and counter offers starts. In an instant, a legal security insurance amount of up to 10,000 euros has been burned. At this stage, the buyer’s lawyer’s demands become tougher with interest charges and intimidation of long-lasting but unpredictable legal processes, the costs of which are as great as the demand for a price reduction.

In order to save the seller from the stress caused by legal processes lasting years and their high costs, he considers it reasonable to agree to the claim, even if he feels that there has been a “violation of rights”, as Saine wrote.

I am aware of several recent housing transactions in Espoo, where the above-mentioned pattern was repeated, and it is worrying if unfounded claims about a mistake in a housing transaction become more common in the absence of an unambiguous concept of error liability. Like Saine, I am also surprised that the consumer authorities are not aware of the problem.

See also  Caterham Project V is a lightweight EV with 272 horsepower

Sakari Knuutila

professor, Espoo

The reader’s opinions are speeches written by HS readers, selected and edited by the HS editorial team. You can leave an opinion piece or familiarize yourself with the principles of writing at the address www.hs.fi/kiryotamielipidekeisuis/.

#Readers #Opinion #concept #error #liability #housing #trade #clarified

Related Posts

Next Post

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended