Snagging

Generally speaking you are not allowed to hold back money until completion of the snagging list unless there is a provision on the contract of sale to the contrary allowing you do to so.

Under the Law of Contract in Cyprus there is a fundamental distinction between breach of conditions and breach of warranties. This distinction is fundamental because it clarifies and determines the rights and remedies available to an innocent party in case of a breach of contract. The difference is that if a certain act or omission is classified as a breach of a warranty it only gives the right to the innocent party to sue for damages and on the other hand if is classified as a breach of a condition it means that it was so fundamental that affects the roots of the contract and therefore gives the right to the innocent party either to sue for damages or more importantly to terminate the agreement.

If the developer will not do the work the most important is to appoint a surveyor to prepare an estimate for the cost of the uncompleted work.

The second step is for your lawyer to send a registered letter to the developer with the surveyor’s report as attachment thus giving him the opportunity to have his own report prepared by his own surveyor.

What is very important in the letter is for your lawyer to express in writing your willingness to comply with your contractual obligations i.e. that after the developer completes the outstanding work and after confirmation from the surveyor that the work has been done properly then you will pay any outstanding amount due to him. In this way you safeguard that he is in breach of contract, you give him the right to correct himself and the same time you are not in any way in breach with your contractual obligations.

If the developer rectifies the deficiencies the case is successfully completed, if not, and after the reasonable time passes then you have all the rights with you and you can appoint an independent contractor to complete and pay him from the outstanding amount. Any amount left you pay it to the developer any amount paid in excess you claim it from the developer.

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