Abstract
The article deals with a new type of tort liability. The new Civil Code has introduced liability for damage caused by a building.
Although there is still no Supreme Court case law, the vast majority of academics believe that this is not only no-fault liability but absolute liability. In other words, the owner of a building is always liable without any exonerating reason.
This approach contrasts, inter alia, with the concept of such liability in the nearest comparable legal systems, namely Austrian and German law. In the author's view, liability without the possibility of exoneration is not only totally inadequate in terms of the type of liability, but cannot be deduced from an analysis of the text of the law itself.
The solution to be adopted is therefore close to the Austrian concept. In the present case, it is a more stringent subjective liability, which means that a stricter standard of care is imposed on the owner with regard to maintenance work.
This aspect should be measured by an objective criterion, which should be the expectations of the average building owner under the local, temporal and other conditions. The nature and age of the building in question is also relevant.