The defects liability period, explained
The defects liability period — also called the rectification period or defects correction period — is the stretch of time after practical completion during which the contractor remains obliged to return and put right defects that appear in their work. Twelve months is the most common length, though six and twenty-four both appear, and some elements carry longer warranties of their own.
It exists because some defects only reveal themselves in use: a heating system meets its first winter, a roof meets its first driving rain, a floor finish meets actual traffic. The period gives those faults time to surface while the contractor is still on the hook for them.
What it does — and does not — cover
A defect is work that does not comply with the contract: wrong materials, poor workmanship, something that has failed because it was not built properly. That is narrower than "anything now wrong with the building".
- Covered: failed sealant letting water in, a boiler that was incorrectly commissioned, cracked tiling over inadequate substrate preparation, doors that bind because they were hung out of tolerance.
- Usually not covered: damage caused by the occupier, fair wear and tear, consequences of the client's own alterations, or failure to carry out the maintenance the O&M manual specifies.
- Contested more often than anything else: shrinkage cracking and movement. Some is normal in a drying building; some indicates a real fault. This is where photographic evidence of when it appeared and how it progressed earns its keep.
Note that the period does not cap the contractor's overall liability. It gives them the right and the obligation to come back and fix things — cheaper for them than paying somebody else to. Liability for latent defects generally runs much longer under the law of the contract, but the specifics vary by jurisdiction and by what you signed, so take advice on your own contract rather than a blog post.
Reporting defects during the period
Do not save them all for the end. Report each defect as it appears, in writing, with a photograph and a date. Two reasons: an urgent defect needs fixing now rather than in eleven months, and a contemporaneous record is far harder to dispute than a list assembled from memory at the close.
Each report should carry:
- Where it is, precisely enough for somebody else to find it unaccompanied.
- What is wrong, in plain description rather than a proposed remedy.
- When it was first noticed, and whether it is getting worse.
- A photograph that shows both the defect and enough context to locate it.
The end-of-period inspection
Shortly before the period expires, the building is inspected again and a schedule of outstanding defects is issued. This is the last straightforward opportunity to have work put right, so it is worth doing properly rather than as a walk-through.
Work through the original handover list first and confirm each item is genuinely closed — not marked closed. Then inspect afresh for anything that has appeared since. Items the contractor has already returned to and failed to fix deserve particular attention; a repair that did not hold is a live defect, not a closed one.
Once the outstanding items are rectified, the certificate of making good is issued and the remaining retention is released. Retention is the leverage that gets the last items done, so releasing it before the work is complete removes the only practical incentive left.
Keep one list, not three
The common failure is ending up with a handover list, a series of ad-hoc emails through the year, and a separate end-of-period schedule, none of which reconcile. Nobody can then say whether item 14 was ever fixed, and the argument is unwinnable in both directions.
Keeping one running record with stable numbering solves it. In Snagger, the report keeps its numbering across revisions: each visit issues a new revision of the same list, so item 14 is item 14 at handover, in March, and at the end of the period — with the dates and photographs of every stage attached to it.