Construction & Renovation:

Question: What are common legal disputes between property owners and contractors?

Answer: Legal disputes between property owners and contractors often involve accusations of poor workmanship by the contractor and non-payment by the owner. These cases are usually extensive, involving laws like the Construction Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.30, and often require independent expert evaluations. Proper legal advice is crucial to navigate complex issues like unjust enrichment and consumer protection laws. If you're facing such disputes, Pollock Paralegal offers guidance to resolve your concerns efficiently.

Common Disputes Affecting Contractors

Court disputes between a property owner and a contractor hired for a construction or renovation project frequently arise.  In some courts, especially the Small Claims Court, cases involving contractors and homeowners are prevalent.  In such cases it is common that a property owner will accuse a contractor of poor quality work; and in turn, the contractor accuses the property owner of failure of payment.

Challenges

Construction law cases can be very challenging to litigate due to the extent of laws involves as well as the extent of evidence usually involved and the need for independent witnesses to inspect and provide expert reports as to what constitutes as proper workmanship and thus whether the trade standards or the contractual specifications for the project were met, valuation of the portion of work properly completed, among other things; and accordingly, even the seasoned legal professional may find construction law cases as burdensome to litigate.  These cases are often extra challenging and troublesome due to the conduct of the parties involved and breach of various legal duties occuring prior to the obtaining legal advice.

Furthermore, lawsuits involving construction or renovation projects commonly include legal issues that go beyond defective workmanship issues and may also include concerns such as unjust enrichment, consumer protection laws, failures to mitigate, among other concerns.