"Is my home too old to bring a claim?"

The short answer: maybe — and the only way to know is to check the dates

Florida construction-defect claims run against two different deadlines, and one of them is unusually strict. The good news is that these deadlines can be more favorable than homeowners assume, so plenty of people who think they are too late are not. The hard news is that one deadline is absolute, and once it passes, nothing brings the claim back. So "am I too late?" is not a question to answer by guessing — it is a question to answer by pulling the actual dates.

Two deadlines, and why one is stricter

Think of it as two clocks running at the same time:

• The statute of limitations is the more forgiving clock. For a hidden defect, it generally starts when you discovered the problem, or reasonably should have. That is why finding a defect years after buying can still be timely — the clock did not start until you knew.
• The statute of repose is the strict clock. It is an absolute outside limit, and it runs from a fixed point tied to when the home was completed — not from when you discovered anything. When it runs out, the claim is over, even if the defect was buried in a wall and no one could have found it sooner.

To be on time, a claim has to beat both. The repose clock is the one that quietly ends cases, because it can run out before a homeowner even knows something is wrong.

How long, and from when

Under current Florida law, the construction-defect statute of repose is generally 7 years. It runs from the earliest of a few construction milestones — things like a temporary certificate of occupancy, the certificate of occupancy, or a certificate of completion for the home.

Two details catch homeowners off guard:

• "Earliest of" can be sooner than you think. If a temporary certificate of occupancy was issued months before you closed or moved in, the clock may have started then — not on the date you think of as "when we got the house."
• The period was recently shortened. Because the law changed, a claim that would have been in time under the older, longer deadline might be out of time now. Working from an old rule of thumb is a good way to misjudge where you stand.

The part that surprises people: the pre-suit process does not stop the clock

Florida requires a pre-suit notice-and-response process before a construction-defect lawsuit. It is easy to assume that starting that process "pauses" your deadline. It pauses the forgiving clock (limitations) — but it does not pause the strict clock (repose). So the weeks spent doing the required pre-suit steps are weeks the absolute deadline keeps counting down. A claim can look perfectly healthy and still run out of time while everything appears to be moving normally. (If you want the technical, attorney-level version of this, see the companion piece linked below.)

What to do if you're not sure where you stand

• Find your home's completion dates. The certificate of occupancy or completion date is usually in your closing documents or available from the local building department.
• Don't self-diagnose the deadline. Because the trigger is the earliest milestone and the law recently changed, it is easy to get wrong in either direction. Have someone confirm it.
• Act sooner rather than later. If you are anywhere near the outside deadline, time is the one thing that cannot be recovered.
• A free case review costs you nothing. The whole point is to learn whether you still have options — before a fixed deadline decides it for you.

Related: Failing or cracking stucco: what Florida homeowners need to know  ·  The attorney-level version: a Chapter 558 notice does not stop the repose clock  ·  Construction-defect practice