What counts as a latent defect?

A latent defect is one you could not have found through a reasonable inspection: improper flashing sealed behind stucco, missing roof underlayment, poorly compacted fill under a slab. A patent defect is one an ordinary owner could see, like a cracked driveway at closing. The distinction sets the start of the 4-year limitations clock: patent defects run from the home's completion milestones, while latent defects run from when you discovered the problem or reasonably should have.

I just discovered the defect. Does that extend the 7-year repose deadline?

No. The statute of repose is a hard cutoff that runs from the completion-related trigger dates regardless of when the defect was discovered. The discovery rule affects only the 4-year statute of limitations, and only inside the 7-year window. Once the repose period ends, the claim is extinguished even if the defect was invisible until then.

Can I sue the builder if I bought the home from a prior owner?

Often, yes, though the analysis is more involved. The building-code claim under section 553.84 is available to any person damaged by a material violation, not just the original buyer, and negligence and implied-warranty claims by resale buyers can be viable depending on the defect and the damage it caused. What does not change: the clocks run from the home's completion, not your purchase date, so a resale buyer inherits whatever time remains.

How do I find out when my home's seven-year clock started?

Pull the permit records. Most Tampa Bay building departments have online permit portals showing the TCO, CO, and certificate-of-completion dates, and the earliest of those events starts the repose period. The property appraiser's site usually shows the year built but not the certificate dates, so verify with the building department. In a multi-building project, each building has its own dates.

Can I Sue My Builder After the Warranty Expires?

Written and reviewed by Cory Cannon, Esq.

Published July 12, 2026 Updated August 2, 2026

The short answer

Often, yes. The builder’s warranty is only one source of your legal rights, and its expiration does not erase the others. Florida law gives homeowners separate claims against a builder (negligence, building-code violations, and implied warranties), and those claims run on statutory clocks that can extend up to seven years after the home was finished. The real question is not whether your warranty booklet has lapsed. It is where your home sits on two deadlines in Florida’s limitations statute.

The warranty is a contract. Your other rights come from the law.

A builder’s written warranty (commonly one year on workmanship, two on systems, and sometimes ten on defined structural elements) is a contract term. When it expires, the builder’s promise to come back and repair ends. Three categories of claims survive it:

Negligence. A builder or contractor who failed to use reasonable care in construction can be liable for the damage that failure causes, warranty or no warranty.
Building-code violations. Section 553.84, Florida Statutes, creates a civil action for a material violation of the Florida Building Code: one that causes, or may reasonably cause, physical harm or significant damage to the building’s performance.
Implied warranties. Florida courts read implied warranties of fitness and merchantability into the sale of a new home. Those duties exist whether or not they appear in your closing documents, and they are separate from the warranty booklet the builder handed you.

Which claims fit your facts depends on the defect, the contract, and the parties. Our guide Can I sue my contractor in Florida? covers that broader question. This page covers the deadlines.

The two clocks that control

Both live in section 95.11(3)(b), Florida Statutes (renumbered from 95.11(3)(c) in 2023):

Deadline	Length	When it starts
Statute of limitations	4 years	For a visible (“patent”) defect, the completion milestones below. For a hidden (“latent”) defect, the date you discovered the problem, or should have discovered it with due diligence.
Statute of repose	7 years	The earliest of four events: a temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO), the certificate of occupancy (CO), a certificate of completion, or abandonment of unfinished construction.

The difference matters. A statute of limitations is a filing deadline that can move with discovery: find a hidden defect in year five and you generally have four years from that discovery to act, but never past the repose wall. This four-year period is the construction-specific limitations clock in section 95.11(3)(b); a standalone negligence theory can run shorter, because House Bill 837 (2023) cut Florida’s general negligence limitations period to two years for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023, so have counsel confirm which clock governs your claim. A statute of repose is that wall: it extinguishes the claim seven years after the trigger date no matter when the defect surfaced, even if it was impossible to see. Senate Bill 360 (2023) cut the repose period from ten years to seven and set the trigger at the earliest of the four events above. In a multi-building project, each building runs on its own dates.

The math in 2026

A home whose CO issued in June 2019 hit the seven-year wall in June 2026. Homes finished in 2020 and 2021 are past the midpoint of their windows. This is arithmetic, not alarm: look up your CO date now rather than next year. It is public record, and your city or county building department’s permit portal will show it.

One prerequisite: the Chapter 558 notice

Florida requires pre-suit notice before most construction-defect lawsuits. Under Chapter 558, you serve the builder a written description of each defect at least 60 days before filing (120 days for an association representing more than 20 parcels) and the builder gets a chance to inspect and offer a repair, money, or nothing. Serving the notice tolls (pauses) the statute of limitations. It does not toll the statute of repose; the statute says so expressly. A claim near the seven-year wall must be filed inside it, notice process and all. Our Florida 558 notice guide walks through the sequence.

How we approach an out-of-warranty defect

We start with the documents: the permit file, the CO date, the contract, the warranty, and the inspection history. I am a Florida attorney with a family history in construction for generations, and I read builder files the way they were written: as construction records, not just legal exhibits. Where the defect requires it, we retain independent licensed engineers to establish cause and scope. Then we match the evidence to the claims that survive the warranty and to the clocks still open. See our construction defect practice for the defect types we handle, and our resource library for related guides.

If your builder’s warranty has expired and the house has problems the warranty never fixed, the deadlines are running whether or not anyone has looked at them. Contact us for a free consultation. Bring your CO date if you have it, and we will do the math with you.