What is
Decennial Liability?
Decennial liability is the UAE Civil Code rule that makes the contractor and the supervising engineer jointly liable for ten years from handover for total or partial collapse of a building and for defects threatening its stability or safety. It is mandatory: any clause excluding or limiting it is void, it applies even where the defect originates in the ground or the employer approved the design, and the owner has three years from discovery to claim.
Who is caught, and for what
The rule binds the contractor who built the works and the engineer who designed or supervised them, jointly. An engineer who only designed, without supervising execution, is liable for design defects alone. Subcontractors are not directly caught: the main contractor answers to the employer for their work, which is why back-to-back indemnities matched to the full ten-year horizon matter so much. The trigger is collapse, total or partial, or a defect that threatens the stability or safety of the structure: serious structural matters, not snagging.
Managing a risk you cannot delete
Because exclusion clauses are void, management happens elsewhere: decennial liability insurance, document retention for the full period plus the three-year claim window, clear records of design responsibility, and subcontractor indemnities that survive as long as the exposure does. Our full guide to decennial liability in the UAE covers each tool, and the FIDIC guide shows how the rule sits over the standard forms.
Who is caught by decennial liability?
The contractor and the supervising engineer, jointly and severally, towards the employer. An engineer who designed but did not supervise is liable only for design defects. Subcontractors are not directly liable to the employer under the rule; exposure reaches them through contractual indemnities from the main contractor.
Can decennial liability be excluded by contract?
No. The Civil Code makes the rule mandatory and voids any agreement excluding or limiting it. It applies even where the collapse originates in soil conditions or where the employer approved the defective design. Contract drafting can allocate the consequences between contractor, engineer and subcontractors, but cannot remove the liability itself.
How long do owners have to claim?
The liability period runs ten years from handover of the works. Once a covered defect or collapse is discovered, the owner has three years from discovery to bring the claim. In practice that means project records need to be kept for at least thirteen years.
Facing a structural defect claim?
Senior counsel only. We act for employers, contractors and engineers on decennial liability claims and the contracts that allocate them.
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