Delays Remain Commonplace in São Paulo Property Construction Projects
The number of complaints made to the Procon organisation against Brazil property constructors and incorporators has continued to rise, hitting 1,981 for the first half of 2011 in São Paulo alone, where the majority of the country’s main players have ongoing projects – rising by 26 percent compared to the same period of last year.
According to statistics, the Tenda real estate construction company (low income housing producers) has seen the most amount of actions being undertaken by off plan home buyers with MRV, Cyrela, Ecoesfera and FIT also seeing rises.
Interviewed by the Jornal da Tarde newspaper, lawyer Marcelo Tapai stated that the most prominent issue was related to delays in project delivery – with some cases being over 2 years behind – followed by property defects and hidden charges.
In the same article, Luiz Pompéia of the Brazilian Property Studies Company (EMBRAESP) stated that the heated nature of the market was mainly to blame: ´for two years we have seen a number bottlenecks in the construction industry in terms of the rising costs of labour, material and even equipment. These issues have not been resolved by the industry and the only seeming solution now is to stretch their deadlines.´
The developers themselves have stated that difficulties in dealing with the public organs as well as issues related to their own construction methodologies and the heavy rainfall experienced during the Brazilian summer this year have also all contributed to the problems being faced. Most are now accordingly extending the promised delivery periods to more realistic levels.
