Part 31 published on 01/08/10
Court considers rights of syndicate to assert claims under Civil Code Article 1081
The plaintiff condominium owners and their syndicate asserted various claims against the builder for alleged defects. The Court confirmed the existence of various original construction defects, ruling in favour of the plaintiffs in relation to many of the claims.
In the course of the judgment, the Court also addressed the rights of the syndicate to assert claims under Civil Code Article 1081. In particular, the Court considered the rights of the syndicate to assert claims for alleged deficiencies or non-conformities in relation to certain “private portions”, namely the non-conforming length of the basement parking spaces and the non-sprinklered storage lockers. The Court said:
“The Court is satisfied Syndicat 5402 has the necessary authorization of the relevant Co-Owners of these portions and that while this issue does affect private property, it affects all or virtually all of the Co-Owners and the collective good of the condominium.”
“Since the Legislator has not specified how the authorization is to be given, the Court is satisfied that since all of the Co-Owners are also Co-Plaintiffs on other issues, that they must necessarily have given their authorization to Syndicat 502 to proceed on their behalf to claim for the non-conformity of these private portions. In the alternative, the Court is satisfied that the criteria of art. 199, C.C.P. have been met to permit the Co-Owners to be added as Plaintiffs for these specific private recourses.”
The Court accordingly permitted the claims (respecting the private portions) to proceed.