The Right to Repair Act: Part 2 Summary of the Law

february 21, 2017

Access for inspection requested by the contractor: If the contractor requests an inspection, the claimant shall provide access to the site within 30 days of receiving the contractor’s request. The contractor shall have reasonable access to inspect and document any alleged construction defects and perform any nondestructive testing required to evaluate the nature and extent of the claimed defects. If the initial inspection reveals the additional destructive testing is necessary, the contractor shall provide notice of the need for additional testing and the claimant shall provide reasonable access. . O.C.G.A. § 8-2-38 (e).

Contractor response after inspection: Within 14 days of the contractor’s inspection, the contractor shall serve on claimant: 1) a written offer to fully or partially remedy the defect (including description of additional work necessary); 2) a written offer to settle the claim for a money payment; 3) a written offer which includes a combination of work and money payment; or 4) a written statement that the contractor will not remedy the alleged defect. O.C.G.A. § 8-2-38 (f).

Acceptance of contractor’s offer: If claimant accepts contractor’s offer, it shall do so by serving contractor with written notice within 30 days after receipt of the offer. If claimant doesn’t respond to the contractor’s offer within 30 days, the offer shall be deemed accepted.

If contractor’s offer is accepted and that offer includes work to remedy a defect, the claimant shall provide prompt and unfettered access to the property so contractor can complete the repairs.

Failure to perform agreed repairs: If the contractor agrees to remedy the defect by repair or money payment but does not do so within the agreed upon time table, the claimant can bring legal action against the contractor without further notice, except as otherwise provided by applicable law. In this instance the claimant may also file the contractor’s offer and claimant’s acceptance, which will create a rebuttable presumption that a valid and binding agreement was created and should be enforced by the court or arbitrator. O.C.G.A. § 8-2-38 (g).