On 1 July 2025 Florida began requiring every builder of a newly constructed home to give the buyer a one-year warranty, by statute, whether the builder offers one of its own or not. Most buyers signing contracts in Southwest Florida today have never been told this exists. Here is what it covers, what it does not, and what you have to do to use it.
The statute
The law is section 553.837 of the Florida Statutes, created by House Bill 623 and enacted as chapter 2024-95, Laws of Florida. It took effect on 1 July 2025.
It requires a builder to warrant a newly constructed home against construction defects in equipment, material or workmanship — supplied by the builder, its subcontractors or its suppliers — that result in a material violation of the Florida Building Code.
How long, and from when
One year, running from the earlier of two events: the original conveyance of title to the first owner, or initial occupancy of the home. Not the later of the two. If you occupied before closing under some arrangement, the clock started then.
It transfers
This is the provision most people miss. The warranty stays in force for the full year even if the home is sold or transferred during it. A buyer purchasing a nine-month-old house from its first owner inherits the remaining three months. Where a builder substitutes its own express written warranty for the statutory one, that warranty has to transfer automatically during the initial year too.
What it does not cover
- Appliances and equipment already covered by a manufacturer’s warranty
- Normal wear and tear
- Normal settling of the house
- Damage caused by work the owner or a third party performed
- Acts beyond the builder’s control — storms, floods, lightning strikes and similar
Note the shape of the coverage. This is a building-code warranty, not a satisfaction warranty. A door that sticks is not a code violation. A drain that is not vented to code is.
The builder’s own warranty sits on top
The statutory warranty is a floor, not a ceiling. A builder may substitute an express written warranty offering equal or greater coverage, and most national builders already publish something broader.
Lennar, the builder in all six of the communities we work in, publishes a 1-2-10 structure in its own buyer materials: one year on fit and finish, two years on the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems, and ten years on major structural elements such as the foundation, load-bearing walls and roof framing. That is Lennar’s published programme, and the terms that govern your house are the ones in your warranty booklet — read that document, not this paragraph.
The practical reading: you may have three overlapping warranties on the same house — the manufacturer’s on the appliances, the builder’s on the systems and structure, and the state’s on code compliance — each with its own term and its own claim process.
Before you sue anyone: Chapter 558
Florida does not let a homeowner go straight to court over a construction defect. Chapter 558 of the Florida Statutes sets out a pre-suit notice and repair process, and the day counts matter:
- You must serve written notice of the claim at least 60 days before filing an action — 120 days where an association with more than 20 parcels is involved.
- The builder then has 45 days to respond in writing — 75 days in the association case.
- The builder may offer to repair at its own cost, offer money, offer a combination, dispute the claim outright, or have its insurer determine payment.
- If you reject the offer, you must say so within 45 days of receiving it. File suit without accepting or rejecting and the court will pause the case until you comply.
The reason to know this before you have a problem is that the notice has to be served correctly and on time, and a homeowner discovering Chapter 558 after they have already instructed a lawyer has usually lost weeks.
The outer limit: seven years
Separately from any warranty, Florida sets a statute of repose — an absolute deadline after which a construction defect action cannot be brought at all, regardless of when the defect was discovered. Senate Bill 360 shortened it from ten years to seven, effective 1 July 2024, and changed the trigger: the clock now runs from the earliest of the temporary certificate of occupancy, the certificate of occupancy, the certificate of completion, or abandonment of construction, rather than the latest of several events.
For a buyer, that is a meaningful compression. It is one more argument for the eleven-month inspection, and for keeping the closing package, the warranty booklet, the certificate of occupancy and every piece of correspondence about a defect somewhere you can find them in year six.
What to do with all this
- Find the certificate of occupancy date and the closing date. Write down which is earlier — that is when your statutory year started.
- Read the builder’s warranty booklet at the orientation walk, not a year later. Note which system is on which term.
- Put an inspection in the diary for month eleven.
- Report defects in writing, keep the copy, and keep the reply.
- If you are buying a house that is under a year old from its first owner, ask for the warranty documents. The remainder of the statutory year is yours.
We are licensed Florida real estate professionals, not lawyers, and nothing here is legal advice. If you think you have a defect worth arguing about, talk to a Florida construction attorney — and do it early enough that the Chapter 558 clock works for you rather than against you.