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Santa Catarina Court of Justice absolves Joinville architect for faults in work altered without his authorization; expert report confirmed that problems were caused by modifications made by third parties
The 5th Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina decided to exempt an architect from Joinville from liability for flaws in a work renovated without his authorization. The professional had been hired only to prepare the architectural project and did not participate in its execution.
The work was completed in 2017, but underwent changes made by the plaintiff and the person carrying out the renovation. These changes included changing the type of roof and internal and structural modifications.
The author claimed that, after the changes, defects such as infiltrations, leaks and damage to walls and ceilings appeared, making the property uninhabitable.
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A technical assessment carried out during the process indicated that the structural problems were a direct consequence of changes made without the architect's knowledge.
According to the expert, the professional did not participate in the execution and only clarified specific doubts, without technical involvement in the reported problems.
The case rapporteur highlighted article 621 of the Civil Code, which prohibits the owner of the work from modifying the original project without the author's consent.
He also stressed that the fact that the architect is the designer is not enough to attribute to him responsibility for errors arising from unauthorized changes.
"It is fearful to hold him jointly liable when it is clearly proven in the records that there were substantial modifications to the original project without his full knowledge and approval.”, said the rapporteur.
During the trial, the architect admitted to having made suggestions about finishes, but the court found that this did not make him responsible for the structural defects. There was no evidence that he approved or participated in the changes made.
With the new decision, the TJ-SC reformed the previous sentence and dismissed the architect's conviction. The responsibility for paying compensation of R$183,9 thousand for material damages and R$5 thousand for moral damages was maintained solely for the executor of the work.
With information from Conjur.
