In practice, it not infrequently occurs that rights arising from liability for defects (including rights arising from warranty liability) are asserted against a trader by a person who was not his customer at all, but who acquired ownership of the goods only subsequently on the basis of further legal facts (further sale of the goods). This is therefore a person who was not in a legal relationship with the trader. Some traders are, in such cases, uncertain as to what their legal obligations are towards these subsequent owners of the goods. For better orientation in these situations, we therefore provide the following information.

Liability for defects (including warranty liability) is in principle a relative (obligatory) legal relationship between specific subjects, and entitlement arising from liability for defects therefore does not in any way “adhere” to the thing sold (unlike, for example, a pledge or an easement). In the case of a further sale of the thing, rights arising from liability for defects do not automatically pass together with the ownership right to the subsequent owner. This means that the person entitled to assert rights arising from liability for defects (to make a complaint) is generally always the person with whom the trader is in a contractual relationship, that is, the person to whom the goods were sold by the trader – the original owner. In the case where a further sale of the thing occurs and at the same time one of the conditions set out below is not satisfied, liability for defects towards the current owner of the thing is borne by this subsequent seller.

In the case of proper cooperation by the original owner of the goods, it is however possible for rights arising from liability for defects to be properly asserted with the trader by another person as well. This cooperation by the original owner may usually take two basic forms. The first case is a situation where a power of attorney is granted by the original owner to the new owner of the goods – in this case it is essentially a matter of representation of the original owner and the situation is relatively straightforward. The second case is a situation where, upon a further transfer of the ownership right to the thing, there is also a contractual assignment of rights arising from the trader’s liability for defects from the original owner of the goods to another person. In order for such a valid assignment of rights to the new owner of the goods to occur, the agreement on the assignment of rights must be concluded in writing.

From the above it therefore follows that in the case where the current owner of the goods has concluded a written agreement with the person to whom the trader sold the goods, whereby it follows from this agreement that there has been an assignment of rights arising from liability for defects to the new owner of the goods (or a chain of written agreements containing this assignment leading from the trader to the current owner is established), this new owner has the same rights relating to liability for defects as the original customer of the trader. In the case that this has not occurred, the new owner of the goods cannot assert liability for defects against the trader. This naturally does not preclude the trader from complying with this request voluntarily or the satisfaction of the owner’s requirements occurring directly from the manufacturer of these goods, etc.

This text was translated from Czech to English using an AI translator.