Disputes Settlement of Private Housing Construction Agreements: Contract Management Challenges

Abstract

This research aims to detect the reasons for, challenges to, and methods of settling disputes from private housing construction contracts in the Palestinian Territories (the West Bank) and their consequences in the construction market. Literature on the subject was reviewed, then free discussions were conducted with a focus group of 39 local community representatives (LCRs) in the West Bank (judges, lawyers, and representatives from Palestinian Contractors Union, Engineers Syndicate, municipalities, and governors) to explore the challenges, dispute reasons, and regulatory frames for residential construction agreements in the West Bank. The discussions were followed by a questionnaire sent to 79 landlords and 32 residential contractors. An in-depth statistical analysis was then conducted using the collected data. It was found that a legislative gap in regulating private housing construction agreements has led to the jurisdiction of customary law that preserves the interests of residential contractors to the detriment of landlords. The inequality of bargaining power between the contracting parties, the poor management of agreements, and the lack of engineering supervision in most of these relationships represent significant challenges in the practical conditions of these contractual relationships. This research pursues the reasons for disputes in private housing construction agreements, the lack of a regulatory framework for construction contracts, poor management of agreements, and the absence of engineering supervision.