Morocco Extends Legal Protection for Real Estate Buyers to 5 Years

During a legislative session held in July, the House of Representatives unanimously adopted a bill amending and supplementing the dahir of 9 Ramadan 1331, corresponding to August 12, 1913, forming the Code of Obligations and Contracts. This bill aims to amend and supplement Article 573 of the Code of Obligations and Contracts by modifying the statute of limitations for actions resulting from redhibitory defects of real estate to two years from the date of delivery and to five years in all cases from the date of sale.

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After its adoption, this law, which aims to give the consumer sufficient time to ensure that the property is free of damage and defects, in order to guarantee its protection and ensure fairness in contractual relations, particularly due to the increase in demand for co-owned real estate, has recently been published in the Official Journal. A demand from consumer protection associations and parliamentary groups, particularly the Progress and Socialism group, who had raised the issue in Parliament.

The time limit provided for in Article 573 for the introduction of a legal action for lack of guarantee, limited to 365 days from the date of delivery, has proven insufficient, as cases of defects have increased considerably. Some are even the subject of legal actions before the courts of the kingdom. According to the aggrieved persons, especially those living in co-ownership, the defects appear due to interdependent factors, between objective aspects related to the nature of the work and the nature and quality of the materials used, whose defects of use often appear over time, and sometimes due to climatic effects that accelerate the appearance of these defects and damages.