Real estate
Construction
Construction is a historic field for arbitration. No special rule restricts it: contract for work, architect's or engineer's mandate, sale of materials or of real estate, everything is arbitrable between the parties.
What you can submit
- Quality of the work and warranty for defects, price of the work, fees and their statement.
- Deadlines, penalties for delay, claims for damages, termination.
- Liability of the contractor, the agent, the architect, the engineer or the seller.
What remains reserved
- Statutory lien of tradespeople and contractors: the provisional, urgent registration remains a matter for the state court; the merits of the secured claim remain subject to arbitration.
- A mere reference to the SIA 118 standard is not sufficient to establish arbitration: an express clause is indispensable.
- Non-party third parties: a subcontractor, a supplier or a third-party owner who has not accepted the clause cannot be bound by it.
- Consumer building owner: preferably reserve for relationships between professionals or for a fully informed consumer. Form: art. 358 CPC is sufficient.
The clause
Ready to insert into your contracts. Copy it, or generate a personalised version.
General clause (works contract, mandate or sale)
See the other variants (2)
Short variant
Reference via the SIA standard (express clause to be added)
Sales contracts
Sales disputes are of a financial nature and freely disposable, and are therefore arbitrable without any particular restriction. This applies to the sale of movables as well as to the sale of real estate.
See the areaMandate and services
Mandate and services disputes are of a financial nature and freely disposable, and are therefore arbitrable. Revocation at any time (art. 404 CO) is mandatory but does not preclude arbitration: the Federal Supreme Court has so held.
See the areaRights in rem
Rights in rem disputes are arbitrable between the parties in their financial dimension: easements, neighbour relations, ordinary co-ownership, real estate charges. Land register operations and authentic form remain reserved to the authorities.
See the area