The contractor and supervising engineer are jointly and severally liable for ten years from handover for collapse and structural-safety defects — exclusion clauses are void, and the employer has three years from discovery to claim.
Most construction liability is negotiable. This one isn't. Understanding exactly what decennial liability covers — and what it doesn't — is the starting point of every UAE construction risk conversation.
What the regime says
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Who | Contractor + supervising engineer, jointly & severally |
| What | Total/partial collapse; defects threatening stability or safety |
| How long | 10 years from delivery of the works |
| Claim window | 3 years from discovery of the defect |
| Exclusions | Void — the liability is public order |
| Even if… | The ground caused it, or the employer approved the works |
Two boundaries matter as much as the rule. Downward: the regime targets structural failure, not finishing defects — ordinary snags live under the contract's defects-liability machinery, not the ten-year statute. Outward: it protects the employer (and successors), and attaches to the contractor and supervising engineer — not, directly, to subcontractors.
The engineer's scope decides the engineer's decade
An engineer who designed and supervised shares the full joint liability. One whose role was design only answers for defects attributable to the design. That single distinction makes the consultancy appointment one of the most consequential documents on a UAE project — what "supervision" includes, what was excluded, and what the record shows the engineer actually did. Scope discipline in the appointment is decennial strategy.
Subcontractors: not caught, but not free
The statute doesn't give the employer a direct decennial claim against subcontractors — the main contractor stands in front for ten years. Which means the main contractor's subcontracts must do what the statute doesn't: indemnities and warranties matched to the ten-year horizon, survival clauses that outlive the subcontract, and insurance requirements that stay in force. A standard 12-month subcontract warranty against a 10-year statutory exposure is a gap someone eventually pays for.
Managing what you can't exclude
- Insurance — decennial / inherent-defects cover where the project supports it, and PI insurance for engineers dimensioned to the real exposure.
- Flow-down — subcontractor indemnities and warranties aligned to the statutory horizon.
- Scope discipline — appointments that say precisely who designs, who supervises, and who doesn't.
- Ground & design diligence — since liability can attach even for faults not of your making, interrogate employer-supplied design and site data before pricing, and paper the reliance.
- The record — contemporaneous documentation that will still make sense to a tribunal a decade on.
Where disputes actually land
Decennial claims surface as arbitration or court proceedings years after the project team dispersed — usually alongside contractual claims and insurance battles, and often turning on a court-appointed expert's structural findings. How the forum handles technical evidence shapes everything, which is one more reason the arbitration clause deserves attention at signing.
How we help
Neo Legal advises contractors, engineers and employers on decennial risk at every stage: appointment and subcontract drafting, insurance structuring, records protocols, and the defence or pursuit of decennial claims when they arrive. Start at the construction practice page.
This article is general information as at July 2026 and is not legal advice. The application of decennial liability is fact-specific; obtain advice on your project and role.
