The Constructor's liability for defects in the condominium building : Focused on Supreme Court Decision 2023Da24660 Decided December 7, 2023

In our country, there is a lot of demand for condominium building such as apartments and commercial buildings that allow independent living within a single building, so there are many disputes between construction companies and unit owners due to building defects. In order to regulate the warranty liability for defects in such apartment buildings, Article 9 of the Condominium Building Act stipulates the warranty liability for unit owners of condominium building by the seller and the constructor. However, there have not been many decisions that have focused on the relationship of warranty liability for defects between the seller, the constructor, and unit owners in relation to the interpretation of the above legal provision. For this reason, recently, the Supreme Court, through the Supreme Court's decision 2023Da24660 Decided December 7, 2023(hereinafter referred as ‘the Judgement’), ruled that the constructor’s liability for damages in lieu of repairing a defect against a unit owner and the constructor’s liability for damages in lieu of repairing a defect against a unit seller are strictly separate obligations, and therefore, even if the statute of limitations for the constructor’s liability for damages against a unit seller has been completed, the constructor’s liability for damages against a unit owner cannot be said to be extinguished for this reason. The Judgement is significant in that it once again clarified the legal principle that, unless there are special circumstances, the expiration of the statute of limitations for a separate obligation does not extinguish other obligations. However, Article 9 Paragraph 2 of the Condominium Building Act is a matter of application of the scope that presupposes the existence of the constructor's security liability for the unit seller pursuant to special provisions, and it was necessary to clarify that the extinguishment reason that the constructor's security liability for the unit seller has been extinguished by the statute of limitations does not affect the constructor's security liability for the unit owners.