What is
the Defects Liability Period?
The defects liability period, or DLP, is the contractual window — typically 365 days from taking-over — in which the contractor must return to site and remedy defects that appear in the works. Two things practitioners keep separate: the DLP is a creature of contract, and its expiry does not end liability — the Civil Code’s mandatory decennial liability and latent-defect rules keep running long after the maintenance period closes.
What the DLP actually does
From taking-over, the employer occupies the works and the contractor’s obligation shifts from building to remedying: defects notified during the period must be made good at the contractor’s cost, and the employer who repairs without giving the contractor the chance to return usually compromises the recovery. The DLP’s end is marked by the performance certificate or equivalent — and it is the trigger for release of the second half of retention.
What it is not
The DLP is routinely confused with decennial liability. They are different regimes: the DLP is negotiated, remedial and short; decennial liability is mandatory, compensatory and ten years long, covering structural failure and defects threatening stability regardless of what the contract says. The 2026 Civil Code refinements also give latent defects their own claim window after discovery — so a defect emerging in year three is not answered by “the DLP expired.”
Is the DLP the same as decennial liability?
No. The DLP is a contractual maintenance window, typically one year. Decennial liability is a mandatory Civil Code regime running ten years from handover for collapse and stability-threatening defects, and it cannot be excluded or shortened by contract.
What if the contractor refuses to remedy?
The employer may engage others and recover the cost — but sequence matters: notify the defect, give the contractor its contractual opportunity to return, and document the refusal. Employers who jump straight to third-party rectification without notice convert a clean deduction into a contested set-off.
Does liability end when the DLP expires?
No. Expiry ends the contractual remedial machinery, not liability. Decennial liability continues for structural matters; latent defects carry their own post-discovery claim window; and accrued claims for defects notified in-period survive certificate issue unless clearly settled.
A defect fight after handover?
Senior counsel only. We run defect, DLP and decennial claims for employers and contractors.
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