California · Construction-defect rights
Here is what you have, and here is how to keep it.
California gives you ten years from completion for hidden defects. If your home was sold new on or after 1 January 2003 the Right to Repair Act sets specific standards and puts the builder on a clock to respond to your notice - if they miss it, you can go straight to court. One warning that catches people: the California Supreme Court held in Lantzy v. Centex Homes that the deadline does NOT pause while a builder promises to fix something. Waiting patiently on a promise can cost you the claim. Log the fault, log the promise, log the date.
What you have
The deadline does not protect a builder who concealed the problem.
In California, a claim of fraud, concealment or serious misconduct is not cut off by the ordinary construction deadline (Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 337.15(f)).
If the builder or developer still controls the property, the deadline isn’t theirs to raise.
The exception most homeowners would never think to ask about: the repose cannot be asserted by a person in actual possession or control of the improvement (Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 337.15(e)) It matters most where a builder still controls part of a project — a phased subdivision, an unfinished condo association.
The ten-year limit DOES NOT APPLY to wilful misconduct or fraudulent concealment - s.337.15(f). And under the Right to Repair Act (SB 800) the builder must respond to your notice: acknowledge within 14 days, inspect within 14 days of that. If they fail to follow the process strictly, YOU ARE RELEASED to go straight to court. Limitation periods are tolled while the process is pursued in good faith.
The deadline
10 years to bring a construction-defect claim
Cal. Code Civ. Proc. s.337.15(a),(b),(e),(f),(g); s.337.1 (patent)
10 years for LATENT deficiencies - "a deficiency which is not apparent by reasonable inspection" (s.337.15(b)). s.337.15(g): the 10 years commences on substantial completion but NOT LATER THAN the first of: final inspection by the public agency; recordation of a valid notice of completion; date of use or occupation; or one year after work ceases. TWO EXCEPTIONS in the statute text that summaries omit: (e) the limitation MAY NOT BE ASSERTED as a defence by a person in actual possession or control of the improvement as owner or tenant at the time the deficiency causes the harm; (f) THE SECTION DOES NOT APPLY AT ALL to actions based on wilful misconduct or fraudulent concealment. Patent (obvious) defects are 4 years under s.337.1. Lantzy v. Centex Homes (2003) 31 Cal.4th 363 held EQUITABLE TOLLING UNAVAILABLE for latent defect claims during repair promises - the period extends only for reasons enumerated in the statute.
“No action may be brought to recover damages from any person... who develops real property or performs or furnishes the design, specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, testing, or observation of construction or construction of an improvement to real property more than 10 years after the substantial completion of the development or improvement for any of the following: (1) Any latent deficiency... (2) Injury to property, real or personal, arising out of any such latent deficiency.”
Before you sue: Written notice describing the defect. The builder has 14 days to acknowledge and offer to inspect; inspection within 14 days of acknowledgment. Limitation periods are tolled while the prelitigation process is pursued in good faith. Failure by the builder to comply strictly releases the homeowner to proceed directly to litigation. (Cal. Civ. Code ss.910-938 (SB 800 prelitigation))
What to do now
Write it down the day you notice it. Photograph it with something for scale. Note the date, the room, and what you saw. If it gets worse, photograph it again - a sequence is far stronger than one picture. Keep every message with the builder. You are not starting a fight; you are keeping the option open. California requires written notice to the builder before you sue: see "Before you sue" on this page for the exact rule. Describe each defect in reasonable detail; a record made at the time is what most people are missing later.
The same defect, a different answer next door
The construction-defect deadline is a state-by-state accident of geography. The identical crack in the identical house can be dead in one state and live in another.