“A person who discovers the defect of the property which was sold to him has 2 years to initiate an action” in guarantee of hidden defects from the date of the discovery of the defect, ruled the Court of Cassation, according to a press release Friday, after examining four cases before it. This two-year period “may be suspended”, in particular the time of an expertise ordered by the justice, she specified.
A seller is bound by the guarantee against latent defects to deliver a good without defect which could compromise the use that the buyer will make of it. It concerns any defects, defects, which would have been concealed during the sale.
Four cases
Of the four cases before the Court, broken down used vehicles were at the heart of two of them. In one case, the manufacturer of the vehicle, who had been ordered to pay compensation in favor of the purchaser, considered that there was prescription. In the second, the manufacturer had been ordered to “fully guarantee the reseller”, an expert having concluded that there was a manufacturing defect. He had also appealed in cassation.
In a third case, customers observed that pockets containing tomato pulp swelled. The producer turned against his supplier of sachets and his insurer, a manufacturing defect having been established. The latter appealed in cassation after a hidden defect was recognized by the courts.
Last case, a farmer notices infiltrations in a roof. After judicial expertise, he assigns the manufacturer, its supplier and the manufacturer of the parts in question. After several judgments, the builder had lodged an appeal in cassation. However, the buyer’s legal action cannot be taken beyond a period of 20 years after the conclusion of the sale itself, the Court also ruled.