Building expert report in Barcelona
Reports that hold up in a Spanish court. More than 140 expert reports signed by a registered arquitecto técnico — Spain's chartered building surveyor — no. 10385 of the CAATEEB, the Barcelona professional body, and a court-listed expert since 2013. From €690 + VAT, with the fee for appearing in court fixed from day one.
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A technical document worth more than a thousand arguments
You bought, and defects appeared that nobody declared. The neighbour upstairs denies the leak. The developer calls the crack «normal settlement». The insurer values the repair at a third of what it costs. The conversation changes the day there is a signed informe pericial on the table — the expert's report a Spanish court accepts as evidence.
We write reports for one party, counter-reports for law firms, and we act as court-appointed expert. From the first day the report is written to be read by a judge and attacked by another engineer: scope defined, method described, dated photographs, valuation with itemised unit prices, and conclusions that stay inside what was asked.
Before any of that there is a stage we do not charge for: reading the case and saying whether it goes anywhere. Many enquiries do not need an expert report. They need to know which clock is running against them.
A report does not defend itself. The person who signed it defends it, in the courtroom, answering questions.
The ten building disputes we report on
Each has its own method, its own instruments and its own legal route. This is the full list, with what is really decided in each case.
| Cracks and fissuresWhat is in dispute is not that there is a crack, but whether it is live or stabilised. Dating it means fitting tell-tales and coming back weeks later | Owner · owners' association |
|---|---|
| Damp and water ingressEverything turns on the origin — condensation, rising damp or ingress — because that is where liability comes from. Thermography measures temperature, not moisture: it goes together with a moisture meter | Owner · owners' association |
| Hidden defects in a saleDefects that already existed and were not declared. The clock matters more than the defect itself. If you are still in time, the cheap route is the pre-purchase survey | Buyer |
| New-build defectsAgainst the developer, the builder or the dirección facultativa — the architect and technical architect who supervised the works — under the LOE. The most effective route is a collective commission by the comunidad de propietarios, the owners' association that runs the building, before the three-year cover expires | Buyer · owners' association |
| Noise and acousticsThese are two separate reports and mixing them voids the commission: a breach of DB-HR, the acoustic section of the Spanish building code, is against the developer; noise measured inside your flat is against whoever emits it. See acoustic insulation | Neighbour · buyer |
| Insurance claimsWater, fire, storm damage. A report facing the insurer's own adjuster, with a channel of its own: the three-expert procedure of art. 38 LCS | Policyholder |
| Professional negligenceAn opinion on another technician's lex artis — the standard of care his profession requires. Commissioned by the injured party, by the professional indemnity insurer or by the technician being sued | Injured party · insurer |
| Breach of a building contractWorks abandoned, cost overrun, delay, items never built. Pure technical-architect work: measuring what was actually executed against the contract and the interim certificates | Developer · builder |
| Counter-reportRebutting the other side's report or the insurer's. Art. 347.1.5 LEC allows the opposing party's expert to criticise a report | Law firm |
| Quantifying the damageThe repair figure sets the amount claimed, which court hears it and who pays the costs. With measurements, work items and itemised unit prices | Part of all the above |
Before the defect, the date
The first question is not what is wrong with your flat, it is when. Date of the deed or of handover of the works, date the damage appeared, whether anything was put in writing to the person responsible. There are four different claim regimes, and taking the wrong one — or arriving late — extinguishes the right.
The most expensive mistake is arithmetic, not law: the guarantee and the deadline to sue are two clocks running one on top of the other. The 10, 3 and 1 years of art. 17 of the LOE — Ley de Ordenación de la Edificación, the Spanish building act — run from handover of the works; the 2 years of art. 18 run from the day the damage appears. Structural damage that shows up in year 9 is within guarantee, and there is until year 11 to sue.
The second mistake is a Catalan one. Most of the trade still explains the six months of art. 1490 of the Código Civil as if Catalonia did not exist, when sales of property located here completed from 1 January 2018 are governed by the llibre sisè of the Codi civil de Catalunya — book six of the Catalan civil code, which in this region displaces the Spanish one — and which replaces the hidden defect with falta de conformitat, lack of conformity. And we say it with the discomfort it deserves: we have seen sound Catalan firms publish different time limits from one another. Do not guess, and put it in writing the moment you find the defect.
An early, dated report does not only describe the defect: it proves when you were able to find it.
Which route applies to you, and how long you have left
It is the number one confusion in this trade and the reason cases are lost before they start. Each row carries its article. It does not replace your lawyer's judgement, but in thirty seconds you know whether you are in a hurry.
| New-build · structural damageLOE (Ley 38/1999) art. 17: cover for damage affecting foundations, supports, beams, floor slabs, load-bearing walls or other structural elements | 10 years |
|---|---|
| New-build · habitabilityLOE art. 17: defects in construction elements or installations that breach the habitability requirements. Almost every damp problem in a new build lands here | 3 years |
| New-build · finishesLOE art. 17: the builder answers for defective workmanship in finishing elements | 1 year |
| The LOE's second clockLOE art. 18: claims lapse two years from the date the damage occurs. It is added to the guarantee, it does not replace it. This is the article nobody quotes | +2 years |
| Resale · Spanish regimeCódigo Civil arts. 1484-1490, the Spanish civil code: liability for hidden defects, with the redhibitoria action to undo the sale or the quanti minoris to cut the price. The period in art. 1490 is caducidad, an absolute long-stop: a burofax, Spain's recorded-delivery letter with certified content, does not interrupt it | 6 months |
| Resale in Catalonia since 2018Llibre sisè of the Codi civil de Catalunya. There is no hidden defect any more but a falta de conformitat, and it has to be notified without undue delay (art. 621-28). On the exact period, Catalan firms publish different figures | A regime of its own |
| Claim against the insurerLey de Contrato de Seguro, the insurance contract act. Art. 18: the company pays the minimum amount due within 40 days. Art. 38: whoever fails to appoint an expert within eight days accepts the other side's report, and if the two disagree a third one decides, binding unless challenged in court | 8 days |
| Badly executed refurbishmentThis does not go through the LOE but through breach of the building contract, and the period depends on the action your lawyer brings. Have the measurement of what was actually built ready now | Ask straight away |
How the report is used at trial
Party expert or court expert. You engage the perito de parte yourself, and his report is filed with the claim or with the defence (art. 336 LEC, the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil or civil procedure act). The perito judicial is appointed by the court from the lists the professional bodies send in each January, by lot the first time and in strict order afterwards (art. 341.1). One warning for a common-law reader: a Spanish perito is not an English expert witness. There is no exchange of reports and no joint statement — the party's expert signs a written dictamen that is filed as a document with the pleadings, and only later goes to the hearing to stand it up under questioning. What is not true is that one kind of expert counts for more than the other: art. 348 subjects them all to sana crítica, the judge weighing each report on its reasoning. The better argued one wins.
The timing. If it could not be filed with the claim, it is announced and filed in every case five days before the audiencia previa, the pre-trial hearing (art. 337); if it arises out of what the defence pleaded, five days in advance (art. 338). Those are days for filing, not for commissioning: whoever rings on a Tuesday for a pre-trial hearing on the Monday has three working days.
Standing it up. The expert attends the trial if a party asks and the court allows it, and art. 347 opens six doors: presentation of the report, explanation of specific points, objections to method, premises and conclusions, extension to related points, criticism by the opposing expert, and tachas. It is a technical cross-examination run by the other side's lawyer and fed by his own expert. It is prepared beforehand and quoted separately.
Tachas. A court-appointed expert is challenged by recusación; a party's expert is tachado, objected to, on five closed grounds in art. 343: family ties, an interest in the matter, dependence, hostility, or any proven circumstance that reflects badly on him professionally. It does not void the report — the court «shall take it into account» (art. 344) — and it is raised at the audiencia previa, not afterwards.
A report falls over on scope and on method, almost never on the conclusion.
What a report must contain if it is to survive
There is a standard that defines this and that almost nobody shows the client: UNE 197001:2019, the Spanish standard for expert reports. Use it as a checklist — on our report and on anybody else's.
| Object and scope kept apartThe scope delimits the questions put and with them the expert's responsibility. If the conclusion answers something nobody asked, it can be taken apart | UNE 5.7.2 |
|---|---|
| Traceable methodHow it was measured, with what equipment, calibrated when and under what conditions. Without that, the art. 347 question about method has no answer | UNE 5.7.2 |
| Justified testingThermography, moisture readings, water-tightness tests; core samples or tell-tales where needed. Destructive testing needs authorisation and, in common elements, a resolution of the comunidad | As the case requires |
| Dated visual recordPhotographic record with dates, sketches, drawings and measurements, in identified and paginated annexes. It lets another engineer reconstruct what you saw | Annexes |
| Itemised valuationA single global figure with no breakdown is the weakness most exploited in court. Without traceable prices the amount claimed collapses, and the claim with it | Essential |
| Declaration of impartialityThere are two of them and many reports carry neither. The one in the UNE standard and, above all, the one in art. 335.2 LEC: swearing on oath that you have weighed what favours and what harms each of the parties alike | Art. 335.2 LEC |
| Identification and signatureQualification, professional body and registration number, unique code, pagination, index, signature and date. And one that carries weight: reports must not be altered once issued | UNE 5.2 |
Counter-report · rebutting the other side
It is what law firms ask us for most and what gets published least. The other side's report arrives — the opposing expert's, the insurer's or the court-appointed one's — and there are a few days to decide whether to attack it and where.
The beginner's mistake is to argue with the result. You start somewhere else: whether the declared scope covered what is concluded, whether the method is reproducible, whether the testing is traceable, whether it strayed into legal characterisation, whether the valuation carries itemised prices, and whether the other side was given the chance to be present at the expert's operations (art. 345). These are express requirements, not opinions of ours, and that is why they are firm ground.
Little room and a short deadline. It is delivered as an independent critical opinion or as an internal note to prepare the cross-examination. And grounds for tacha are looked for before the audiencia previa, which is when they have to be raised.
If a law firm is reading this
We know what matters to you, because it is what you always ask, and in this order: whether the case stands up technically, when the report will be ready, whether the scope covers the petitum — what the claim actually asks the court for — and whether the expert survives art. 347.
Viability in 24 h, free of charge: if we think it cannot be won, we say so then and not after invoicing a useless report. Itemised quote — report, testing, travel and court attendance separately — recoverable from the client and usable in the assessment of costs. Scope agreed before we write, because a report once issued cannot be adjusted. And availability for the hearing at a fixed price.
One detail that sinks cases if you apply for a court-appointed expert: the provisión de fondos, the advance on the expert's fee under art. 342.3, is applied for within three days of the appointment and the parties pay it in within five. If it is not deposited, the expert is released and no new appointment can be made.
Expert report on loss of value from aluminosis
There is a figure that gets confused with the cost of repair and has nothing to do with it: loss of capital value. In defects that never entirely go away even once repaired, what the property loses in value can far exceed what it costs to put right.
It is our distinctive report and almost nobody else produces it: putting a defensible figure on how much less a flat is worth for having high-alumina cement, with more than 1,000 of our own lab tests behind the judgement. It is used in sales, inheritances, divorces and claims. How we calculate it, step by step →
If you do not yet know whether the building is affected, that costs a great deal less: start with the aluminosis test. And if all you need is to prove that the structure can take a particular use for an administrative filing, what you are looking for is not an expert report but a structural safety certificate.
We put a number on what is otherwise argued by eye.
How it works
Triage of the case
We look at the dates, the applicable route and the technical merits, and tell you within 24 h whether an expert report helps you — and if it does not, that too. No charge.
Commission with a written scope
Fixed, itemised quote, with the scope in writing and court attendance priced separately. If there is a lawyer, the scope is agreed with him.
Inspection and testing
Data collection, dated photographic record, sketches and measurements. In contested matters we summon the other side in writing.
Signed report
Diagnosis, cause and effect, and itemised valuation, in UNE 197001:2019 format and with the art. 335.2 LEC declaration. 7 to 15 days.
Standing it up in court
Preparation with your lawyer and defence of the report at the hearing, at a price fixed from day one.
What clients ask us most
How much does a building expert report cost?
From €690 + VAT for a report on a single defined defect in a home. A full report with several defects, testing and an itemised valuation starts at €1,200, and a whole-building new-build claim at €2,400. Appearing in court is separate, at €600 per day, and you know that figure from the quote. VAT is IVA, the Spanish sales tax, currently 21 %; professional fees here are always quoted without it.
Is there an official scale of fees from the professional body?
No, and there cannot be. Art. 14 of Ley 2/1974 on professional bodies forbids the colegios — the bodies every Spanish architect, engineer and lawyer has to be registered with in order for their signature to count — from setting indicative scales «or any other guidance» on fees; the only exception is for the Bar associations, and only for the assessment of costs. If somebody tells you they apply «the scale of the surveyors' college», they are misinforming you.
When does the report have to be filed at court?
With the claim or with the defence (art. 336 LEC). If that was not possible, it is announced and filed in every case five days before the audiencia previa, the pre-trial hearing (art. 337); if it arises out of what the defence pleaded, five days in advance (art. 338). Those are days for filing, not for commissioning: ring us with that date in your hand.
How long do I have to claim for hidden defects?
It depends on the route, and it is the confusion that ruins most cases. In a new build the guarantees of art. 17 of the LOE apply — 10 years structure, 3 years habitability, 1 year finishes — plus the 2 years of art. 18 running from the day the damage appears. On a resale under the Spanish regime, the six months of art. 1490 of the Código Civil. And in Catalonia, since 2018, the llibre sisè of the Codi civil de Catalunya. The table is on this page.
If the damage appears in year 9 of the ten-year cover, do I have until year 10?
No: until year 11. They are two clocks. The 10, 3 and 1 years of art. 17 of the LOE are the guarantee and run from handover of the works; art. 18 adds a two-year limitation period from the date the damage occurs. It is the point almost nobody explains and the one that decides cases.
I bought a resale flat in Barcelona after 2018. Do I have six months?
Probably not. Sales of property located in Catalonia completed from 1 January 2018 are governed by the llibre sisè of the Codi civil de Catalunya — Catalonia has its own civil law, which here displaces the Spanish Código Civil — and it replaces the hidden defect with falta de conformitat, lack of conformity, with periods of its own and a duty to notify without undue delay. Frankly: we have seen sound Catalan firms publish different periods from one another, so do not take it as settled. What is certain is that an early, dated report proves when you found the defect.
The insurer will not accept the valuation of my claim. What do I do before suing?
Trigger the procedure in art. 38 of the Ley de Contrato de Seguro, which hardly anybody offers by name and which does not go anywhere near a court. Each side appoints its own expert; whoever fails to appoint within eight days accepts the other's report. If the two disagree, a third is appointed, and that decision binds unless challenged within 30 days by the insurer and 180 by the policyholder.
I have the other side's expert report. Can you rebut it?
Yes, and it is one of the things law firms instruct us for most. Art. 347.1.5 of the LEC allows the opposing party's expert to criticise a report. You attack on scope and method before you attack the conclusions: if the scope did not cover what is concluded, if the method is not reproducible, or if the valuation carries no itemised prices, there is a way in. From €850 and almost always without a site visit.
How long does an expert report take?
7 to 15 days from the visit for a full report, and less for a report on a single defined defect. If there is a court deadline hanging over it, tell us on the first call. One thing cannot be accelerated: dating a crack means fitting tell-tales and coming back. Anyone who promises to tell you in 48 hours whether a crack is live is not measuring it, he is guessing.
Will the report say who is at fault?
We state the technical cause and which act or omission it is attributable to. Legal liability is for the judge to determine: a report that concludes «the developer is liable» trespasses on the judicial function and is easy to attack. Nor do we change a report once issued because somebody dislikes the conclusions — UNE 197001:2019 forbids it; the only option is an addendum identified as such.
And if you tell me my case goes nowhere?
We tell you, and we do not charge you for finding out. The triage is free on purpose: we would rather lose an instruction than invoice a report that will not serve you. And if you are a lawyer, that is precisely why you will ring again.
Do you have a technical dispute on your hands?
Send us the case on WhatsApp with the dates: within 24 h we tell you which route applies, whether an expert report helps you and what it costs. We do not charge for that diagnosis.