If the builder of the house is late, the customer is entitled to different kinds of compensation, recalled the Court of Cassation (Cass. Civ 3, 5.1.2022, R 20-21.208). It is not because the law provides for late payment penalties, of which it sets the minimum, that the client cannot claim other personal damages.
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After concluding a contract with a contractor to build an individual house, a couple complained that the scheduled end of construction and delivery date had largely passed. The couple mainly invoked financial damage and moral damage. The law only provides for late penalties and it sets the minimum per day, at 1/3000th of the total cost of the site, replied the contractor, which has already led to the payment of 35% of the contract price. These late penalties therefore cover all the damages that might be invoked, he added.
It’s up to the judge to check
But for the Court of Cassation, this reasoning is not good. These fixed late penalties, provided for by the construction and housing code, do not prohibit claiming additional damages for separate damages that would not be repaired by these legal penalties. It is up to the judge to check whether the moral damage and the financial damage invoked by the customers can be considered as compensated by the late payment penalties, she concluded.
