Under the Florida construction defect statute of limitations, a property owner has four years to sue over defective design, planning, or construction, and an absolute seven-year statute of repose that bars any claim filed after that window closes, no matter when the defect appeared. Both deadlines sit in Florida Statutes Section 95.11(3)(b), and Senate Bill 360, signed on April 13, 2023, shortened the outer limit from ten years to seven and changed when the clock starts.
The Four-Year Deadline
Four years is the baseline. For visible problems — cracked stucco, misaligned windows, broken tile — the four years run from the date the local building authority issues the earliest completion-related document for the property. You see it on day one, you have four years.
Hidden defects get a different starting point. When a problem is buried behind walls, under flooring, or inside the foundation, the four years begin on the date you discovered it or should have discovered it through reasonable diligence. That discovery rule protects owners from losing rights to something a normal walkthrough would never have caught.
“Reasonable diligence” is a standard courts take seriously. A small ceiling stain that appears three years before a major leak can be the moment a judge decides your clock started, not the day the ceiling caved in. Ignoring early warning signs is one of the fastest ways to lose a valid claim. The moment you notice moisture, cracking, or settling, document it and get a professional opinion.
The Seven-Year Absolute Cutoff
The seven-year statute of repose is the one that catches owners off guard. It is absolute. No construction defect lawsuit may be filed more than seven years after the triggering event, no matter when the defect was discovered or how reasonable the delay. A roof that first leaks in year six leaves one year to act. A foundation crack that surfaces in year eight is barred.
Before 2023, this outer boundary was ten years. SB 360 cut it to seven and applied retroactively to all actions filed on or after April 13, 2023, regardless of when the underlying work was done. The bill included a one-time grace period: claims that would have been timely under the old ten-year rule had to be filed by July 1, 2024, or they were permanently barred.
Here is the trap. Serving the mandatory pre-suit notice of claim pauses the four-year limitations period but does not pause the seven-year repose period. The statute says so expressly. The seven-year wall keeps moving toward you even while you work through the notice process. Owners anywhere near that outer deadline need to treat every week as spent.
What Date Starts the Clock
Both clocks begin on the earliest of the following dates:
- Issuance of a temporary certificate of occupancy
- Issuance of a certificate of occupancy
- Issuance of a certificate of completion
- Abandonment of construction, if the project was never finished
The word “earliest” is doing heavy lifting, and it is a major shift from prior law. Before SB 360, the clock started from whichever milestone came last, which usually gave owners more time. Now, if a temporary certificate of occupancy is issued in March and the final certificate of occupancy follows in September, the March date controls. Owners who have been counting from the final certificate may have already burned months off their window without knowing it.
These dates are public records kept by the local building department. If you are worried about a potential defect, pulling your permit history and identifying the earliest certificate issued is step one in figuring out how much time remains.
Condos, Multi-Building Projects, and Model Homes
Each building within a multi-building project is treated as its own separate improvement for purposes of the limitations calculation. The clock runs independently for each building based on when that building received its earliest certificate, not when the overall project wrapped up.
In a phased development where Building A got its temporary certificate of occupancy two years before Building C, Building A’s seven-year repose period expires two years sooner. A condominium association looking at defects across the complex has to track certificates building by building, or some claims will be barred while others survive.
Model homes are handled differently. When a newly constructed single-family home is used as a model, the clock does not start at the certificate of occupancy. It begins when a deed is first recorded transferring title to a buyer. That rule stops a builder from quietly burning through an owner’s filing window by using the home for sales before anyone moves in.
One more rule that surprises people: warranty repairs and defect corrections performed after original completion do not restart or extend the limitations period. A contractor who comes back in year three to patch a leak does not reset your clock. The original deadlines keep running from the original triggering date.
The Pre-Suit Notice and the Tolling Split
Florida does not allow you to walk straight into court. Chapter 558 requires a written notice of claim served on the responsible contractor, subcontractor, supplier, or design professional before suit can be filed. For individual owners, the notice must be served at least 60 days before filing. For associations representing more than 20 parcels, which covers most condominium and homeowner associations, the minimum is 120 days.
The notice has to reference Chapter 558, describe each alleged defect in enough detail for the recipient to understand the claim, identify the location of each defect well enough that the contractor can find it without unreasonable effort, and describe the resulting damage or loss if known. The location description must be based on at least a visual inspection, though destructive testing is not required at this stage. A professional inspection report strengthens the notice; vague complaints about “water damage somewhere on the second floor” invite disputes about whether the notice was sufficient.
Skip this step, and the court will halt your case on motion and send you back to complete the process. There is no workaround.
Serving the notice tolls the four-year statute of limitations. It does not toll the seven-year statute of repose. The tolling lasts until the later of two dates: 90 days after you served the notice (120 days for associations with more than 20 parcels), or 30 days after the end of any repair or payment period in an offer you accepted. The parties can also extend tolling by written stipulation.
The split matters most for owners who find defects late. Discover a hidden problem in year six, serve a Chapter 558 notice, and the four-year clock pauses while the seven-year clock keeps running. Spend months going back and forth through the notice process and you can run out the repose period and lose the ability to sue entirely. When you are close to the seven-year mark, the pre-suit timeline becomes part of the risk.
Protecting Your Claim Before Time Runs Out
The compressed deadlines leave little room for delay. A few habits make the difference between preserving a claim and losing it:
- Pull your permit records early. Contact the local building department and identify the earliest certificate issued for your property. That date started all the clocks.
- Inspect before year five. A thorough inspection by a licensed engineer or contractor before the five-year mark leaves room to serve the Chapter 558 notice, work through the response process, and still file suit within the seven-year repose period if negotiations fail.
- Document everything. Photographs, maintenance records, and written communications with the builder create a timeline that supports both the defect itself and the reasonableness of your discovery date.
- Do not ignore small problems. A hairline crack or minor moisture stain can become the date a court uses to start your four-year clock. A professional opinion early is far cheaper than a judge later ruling you should have acted sooner.
- Track the repose deadline on its own calendar. Because the Chapter 558 notice tolls only the four-year limitations period, you need to know exactly how much of the seven years remains before you start the pre-suit process.
Damages in Florida construction defect cases are measured as of the date of the breach, meaning repair costs are calculated based on what the fix would have cost when the defect occurred rather than what it costs years later at trial. Waiting risks the deadline and complicates proof of what the repair should have cost in the first place.