Defects liability period

The defects liability period, called the rectification period in JCT contracts, is the period after practical completion during which the contractor must return and put right defects that appear in their work. It usually runs six or twelve months, depending on the contract.

The most important thing to understand about it is what it is not. It is not a limit on liability. It is a mechanism that gives the contractor both the right and the obligation to come back and fix things. Claims for defective work can be brought long after the period ends, under the contract’s limitation period and, for residential work, under the Defective Premises Act with the extended periods introduced by the Building Safety Act.

What it covers

Defects arising from the contractor’s own work: materials not as specified, workmanship below standard, or something that fails in normal use because it was not built correctly.

It does not cover fair wear and tear, damage caused by the client or their other contractors, or failures resulting from the building not being maintained as the O and M manual requires. Those distinctions cause most of the arguments during the period.

How it runs

Defects are notified as they appear, usually via the contract administrator. The contractor investigates and rectifies within a reasonable time, and access has to be arranged around a building that is now occupied and in use, which is slower and more disruptive than working on an empty site.

At the end of the period a schedule of outstanding defects is usually issued, giving the contractor a final opportunity to clear them. Once that is done, a certificate of making good is issued.

The retention problem

That certificate matters commercially, because it releases the balance of the retention. Half was released at practical completion; the rest sits with the client until this point.

This is where a great deal of money quietly disappears. The period ends, nobody issues the certificate because nobody asks for it, the contract administrator has moved on to other projects, and the retention stays where it is. Twelve months after a job finished, with the team dispersed, chasing it is nobody’s priority until it is written off.

The fix is administrative rather than clever. Record the period end date at completion, diarise it, track defects to closure through the period so there is nothing outstanding to argue about, and chase the certificate when the date arrives. Keeping that against the project rather than in somebody’s memory is what Sync’s delivery management and financial reporting are for.