The Court for the Defense of Competition and Intellectual Property of Indecopi issued a resolution that sets an important precedent. Real estate agencies that fail to deliver real estate properties offered within the deadlines established in the sales contracts They will be obliged to pay the rental costs made by buyers.
This is stipulated in Resolution 0905-2024/SPC-Indecopi, which revokes a previous administrative decision regarding the corrective measure ordered to a real estate agency that was reported by a couple in January 2024, who wanted to live together in an apartment. To address this issue, we spoke with former congressman and expert in consumer defense issues, Jaime Delgado.
Indecopi orders real estate agency to compensate for delays in apartment delivery: what does the resolution say?
Through Resolution No. 0905-2024 issued by the Specialized Consumer Protection Chamber of Indecopi on March 26 of this year, the real estate company G-Pro SAC was ordered to comply within a maximum period of 15 business days. with paying a couple the sum of US$14,400 for the rental of an apartment from May 2022 to May 2023, plus legal interest calculated from the first payment made.
Likewise, said resolution specifies that the real estate company must deposit US$1,200 to the complainants every month, until the delivery of the department that is the subject of the complaint, or until the date of effective resolution of the purchase and sale contract.
“The company stated that it had not been able to deliver the apartments due to COVID-19 and lack of materials, but that is not the user’s problem. What the public needs to understand is that this is a corrective measure. So, Indecopi points out in this resolution that those risks and responsibilities of the business cannot be transferred to the user.”explained Jaime Delgado, specialist in consumer rights issues, in statements to La República.
For Delgado, the scope of this corrective measure by Indecopi sets an important precedent, since it could not only be valid in the case of real estate, but for other types of assets. “For example, I bought a truck and they told me that they were going to deliver it to me next month. I need it because I travel by taxi every day. So, during the two months that they have not delivered my truck, I have spent certain amount in these taxis. If I can prove it, they will have to pay me. It is the same logic,” he emphasized.
What is the background? This is what the Indecopi resolution says
ON January 17, 2023, a couple reported G-Pro SAC for alleged violations of Law 29571, Consumer Protection and Defense Code, because it did not deliver to them a property acquired within the period established in the contract. of sale on December 15, 2021.
Likewise, Messrs. Luis Chávez and Mayra Alegría indicated that the real estate company did not adequately and satisfactorily respond to the management requests contained in the emails through which they requested compliance with what was required in the contract. In addition, they stated that the accused company did not have adequate after-sales service, to the extent that it gave them an appropriate and satisfactory response.
Given this, the real estate company filed a raid regarding the claim made by the couple, who subsequently presented a document complementing their position. Finally, the Consumer Protection Commission of Indecopi – Lima Sur Headquarters No. 2 declared the complaint founded for violating articles 18 and 19 of the aforementioned code in response to this raid formulated by G-Pro SAC
In this way, the central argument of the Indecopi resolution is that the risks of the business carried out by a supplier company cannot be transferred to consumers.
“Regardless of the origin that these economic complications may have – a pandemic, an economic crisis in the country, among others – it is not reasonable that the business risks, instead of being assumed by the same business organization, should be transferred and cause an impact on the consumer rights; therefore, it is appropriate to dismiss their allegations,” the document reads.
Source: Larepublica
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