The Legal 500

Introduction Robert S Peckar Peckar & Abramson, PC 3

Finland Aimo Halonen Mäkitalo Rantanen & Co Ltd 70

By its decision 18 February 2011 (S09/3055) the Helsinki Appellate Court confirmed that an owner is entitled to rely on the quality assurance of a well-known construction company at an acceptance inspection. The court held that the owner is entitled to demand rectification of construction defects and to claim damages for deficiencies discovered during the guarantee period.

Joint ventures: Must foreign designers or contractors enter into a joint venture with a local contractor to design, build and be paid for their work? Does the law require that the local contractor control the joint venture?

Joint ventures: Must foreign designers or contractors enter into a joint venture with a local contractor to design, build and be paid for their work? Does the law require that the local contractor control the joint venture?

The ongoing financial crisis and the looming economic depression will not leave the real estate and rental markets unaffected. The experiences from the early 1990's clearly demonstrate that during times of recession many tenants are likely to grow dissatisfied with their rents and may even resort to legal action to try to correct the situation. As discussed below, Finnish law includes a provision enabling tenants to present claims of this kind against landlords, but the chances of success in court are very modest.