Vinyes Patrimonial sues over repeated water infiltrations in Vinyes car park

Vinyes Patrimonial has launched parallel legal actions after repeated water infiltrations damaged its Vinyes car park. The company filed a civil suit in the Batllia against the construction firm carrying out works at Plaça del Poble and against that firm’s insurer, and submitted a separate administrative claim to the Comú d’Andorra la Vella.

In the administrative complaint Vinyes seeks €4,520.81 for expenses already incurred — emergency water removal, cleaning and urgent maintenance — and €1,641.60 in lost income for three parking spaces on the seventh floor that were unusable from July to October 2025 (€410.40 per month). It also demands compensation for reputational damage and asks the Comú to repair, and if necessary redo, the waterproofing of the entire flat roof and to clean the plaza’s drainage gullies.

Vinyes says the first significant infiltration was detected on 23 June 2025. Subsequent incidents were recorded on 23 July, 9 August, 9, 13, 14 and 27 September, 31 October, and 13 and 16 November, producing “permanent drips and infiltrations” that recur with rain or when contractor interventions take place on the roof. An expert report commissioned by the insurer, cited in the claim, states the problem persists, new infiltrations have appeared in previously unaffected locations, and no preventive measures have been taken.

The company attributes the origin of the damage to the works in Plaça del Poble and Plaça Vinyes, carried out for the Comú. The claim says construction activity has obstructed the plaza’s drains with dirt and building debris, and that this obstruction, together with defective waterproofing and poor sealing of expansion joints between buildings, has led to repeated water penetration into the car park. Vinyes identifies two specific points as focal sources of the leaks: a planter behind the stage on the party wall with the building at 44 Prat de la Creu, and a planter at the threshold of the party wall by Casa Giberga.

Vinyes bases part of its case on a 2 December 1999 agreement between the Vinyes family and the Comú, under which the municipality assumed responsibility for the waterproofing, paving, drainage, landscaping and maintenance of the now-public plaza above the car park. The company argues that, as the adjudicating authority, the Comú must supervise contracted works and is therefore jointly responsible with the contractor and its insurer for any resulting damage.

Documentation cited in the claim includes a 25 July 2025 email from the construction firm acknowledging that dirt filtering from the plaza’s drains had generated new incidents. Communications with the Comú are also referenced: on 4 November the cònsol major, Sergi González, acknowledged ongoing leaks, said tests of the roof’s watertightness were being carried out, and that an external technical report had been commissioned.

The administrative filing, which runs to a dozen pages, sets out the sequence of incidents, the contractual obligations under the 1999 covenant, expert findings and the sums claimed. Both the civil suit and the administrative claim seek recovery of costs tied to water and humidity removal, the expense of redoing waterproofing, lost rental income from the closed spaces, and compensation for reputational harm. Vinyes warns that, if the situation is not remedied, it may pursue further legal action.