Partner
+7 495 544-57-66
The scope of disputes in the construction sector is rather broad. It is best to resolve such disputes with the involvement of an experienced construction lawyer. RVS law firm provides legal services in the construction sector. Our lawyers have an expertise in many aspects of the construction sector. They shall help you settle relations between the investors, project owners, contractors and subcontractors, suppliers.
Disputes over construction and building contracts in Russia constitute the key specialty of the dispute resolution team of RVS. In fact, the number of complex disputes in the construction sector is huge. Most often, the construction disputes involve the following situations:
- recovery of a debt under a construction contract, including recovery of guarantee payments;
- disputes with the project owner;
- disputes with the contractor;
- disputes with the subcontractor;
- disputes under co-funded construction.
CLAIMS UNDER CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT
Debt recovery is the most widespread claim in construction-related disputes. Most often the construction contracts provide for a pre-trial resolution, non-observance of which shall not allow you to file a lawsuit to the commercial (arbitrazh) court, therefore in any event it is necessary to start with a pre-trial claim under the construction contract, whereby you need to list the claims to the counterparty and your demands. Drafting and sending of the claim involves a great deal of legal and technical issues: a correctly drafted claim under the construction contract may result in a victory in court, therefore you should engage professional lawyers to draft a claim.
DEBT RECOVERY UNDER THE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT
Debt recovery is the most widespread subject of a lawsuit under the construction works. Most often the construction contracts provide for a pre-trial resolution, non-observance of which shall not allow you to file a lawsuit to the commercial (arbitrazh) court, therefore in any event it is necessary to start with a pre-trial claim under the construction contract, whereby you need to list the claims to the counterparty and your demands. We know how to handle a lawsuit on construction, what evidence should be included in the claim settlement and the dispute resolution and how to reach a result preferable to the client.
DISPUTES WITH THE PROJECT OWNER
Disputes with the project owner as a rule pertain to delayed payments for works, additional scope of works, that could have been omitted in the construction contract and not agreed separately between the project owner and the contractor, and also to the untimely provision of primary data (design engineering details, terms of reference, technical requirements).
DISPUTES WITH THE CONTRACTOR
Disputes with the contractor most often pertain to the delayed delivery of the results of the works, to the quality of works, and to the contractor’s liability to third parties. Also from our experience issues arise out of due signing of the acts of acceptance of the works (KS 2 and KS 3 forms), especially when one of the parties refrains from signing thereof in bad faith.
DISPUTES IN CONSTRUCTION OVER THE QUALITY OF WORKS
Legal consulting in construction often include representation on a special category of disputes: disputes on the quality of the construction works. As a rule, these disputes arise when the project owner refuses to accept a certain scope of work or even the whole scope of work under the contract, on the ground that the quality of the works performed is not satisfactory.
In such situation, one should consider the following. The project owner may not just refer to the unsatisfactory quality of works without pointing at the exact claims to the quality, documented in the certificate of inspection. Such undocumented statement of the project owner may have no weight in a court trial on the scope and quality of works. Notes and claims to the quality must be documented in the inspection certificate, pulled together by authorized representatives of the project owner and of the contractor. It is also practical to engage the technical inspection, if it is provided by the contract or by a separate agreement between the parties.
All claims to the quality of works must be documented in the inspection certificate, and we also recommend indicating the exact discrepancy of the quality of works, in which case it is necessary to determine whether there are discrepancies between the terms of the Project and the regulating documents (design engineering details, terms of reference, technical requirements) and the results of the works, the applied technologies and materials.
PARTNER IN CHARGE
