What the rectification period is actually for

The rectification period, still widely called the defects liability period, runs from practical completion for a length set in the contract particulars. Six months on smaller work, twelve on larger. During it the contractor is obliged to return and make good defects that appear.

The common misreading

People treat it as the window of the contractor’s liability, as though defects appearing afterwards are the employer’s problem. That is wrong in both directions.

Liability for defective work is a matter of breach of contract and runs for the limitation period: six years from breach, or twelve where the contract was executed as a deed. The rectification period does not shorten that.

It is a right, not just an obligation

This is the part that gets lost. An employer who finds a defect during the rectification period and immediately engages another contractor to fix it, without giving the original contractor the opportunity to return, will usually recover only what it would have cost the original contractor.

The contractor’s own remedial cost is nearly always lower than a third party’s. Denying it the chance is a decision that costs the employer the difference, and the employer is generally the one bearing that difference.

The sequence at the end

• The period ends.
• The contract administrator issues a schedule of defects, within the period the contract allows.
• The contractor makes them good.
• A certificate of making good is issued.
• The balance of the retention is released.
• The final certificate follows.

Each step depends on the one before it, which is why a schedule issued six months late holds up the final certificate by six months and the retention with it.

What it does not cover

Damage caused by the employer’s own use, wear and tear, and failure to maintain. A contractor asked to return and adjust a door that has been slammed for eleven months is entitled to say so.

Distinguishing those from genuine defects is the substance of most schedule negotiations, and it is easier when the schedule is issued promptly, while it is still obvious which is which.

The date to write down

Calculate the end date the day practical completion is certified and put it somewhere that will still exist in a year. Set a reminder two months earlier, because issuing the schedule requires an inspection and the inspection requires arranging.