Polish construction law specifies that withholding payment due to defects creates liability for investors, including potential contract termination rights for contractors.
Common Practice vs. Legal Reality
It is well known that construction work is rarely implemented without defects. Developers and other investors often react to identified defects in a way that seems intuitively logical from a business perspective—by withholding payment for the work until they are rectified. This approach may seem logical at first glance, but under current legal regulations and established court precedent, it does not constitute a proper solution.
Such practice instead creates payment delay liability on the investor’s side, thereby generating interest and potentially giving the contractor the right to terminate the contract.
Financial and Organizational Risks
These consequences represent significant financial and organizational risks for the entity conducting the investment. For this reason, it is worth clarifying what rights the investor has during the implementation of construction work when defects appear but the warranty or guarantee period has not yet begun.
