The Florida Legislature recently passed statutory changes that, among other things, reduce the time condominium and property owners have to file lawsuits over construction defects from ten years to seven years. This means that owners purchasing newly constructed properties years after construction could be left with no recourse if the property was defectively designed or constructed.

Looking back

The previous law established the time for filing a lawsuit founded on the design, planning or construction of a property. For defects considered to be patent — meaning, obvious or known— the time to file a lawsuit (i.e., the statute of limitations) is generally four years from the later of:

• The owner's actual possession;
• Issuance of a certificate of occupancy;
• Abandonment of construction, if not completed;
• Or completion or termination of the engineers, architects, or contractor's contract.

For latent defects — meaning, not easily discoverable — the four-year statute of limitations does not start running until the date the defect was discovered or should have reasonably been discovered. However, in no case could such a lawsuit be filed more than ten years (i.e., the statute of repose) after the later of any event triggering the statute of limitations for patent defects.