Delaware · Construction-defect rights
Here is what you have, and here is how to keep it.
Delaware bars construction and design-defect suits against builders, architects and engineers more than six years after the earliest of several dates in the statute (including the contract completion date, certain payment dates, substantial completion and the owner's acceptance). The statute contains no express exception for fraud or fraudulent concealment. It cannot be used as a defense by someone in actual possession or control of the improvement when the defect causes the injury.
What you have
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: repose not available to any person in actual possession or control (owner, tenant or otherwise) when the deficiency proximately causes injury/death (10 Del. C. § 8127(c)) It matters most where a builder still controls part of a project — a phased subdivision, an unfinished condo association.
You have six years from the earliest of several dates in the statute (including the contract completion date, certain payment dates, substantial completion and the owner's acceptance) to sue a builder, architect or engineer (10 Del. C. § 8127). A person in actual possession or control of the property when the defect causes an injury cannot rely on the deadline (10 Del. C. § 8127(c)). Delaware's statute has no written fraud exception, so acting within the six years matters.
The deadline
6 years to bring a construction-defect claim
10 Del. C. § 8127(b)
6 years from the EARLIEST of several enumerated dates (including the contract completion date, payment dates, substantial completion, and acceptance by the owner or occupant) (10 Del. C. § 8127(b)). The statute contains NO express fraud/concealment carve-out; its only escape is the possession/control exception — the repose is not available as a defense to a person in actual possession or control of the improvement when the deficiency proximately causes the injury/death (§ 8127(c)). (Whether Delaware common-law fraudulent-concealment tolling can reach a repose is an unresolved case-law question.)
“No action … shall be brought against any person performing or furnishing, or causing the performance or furnishing of, any such construction of such an improvement … after the expiration of 6 years from whichever of the following dates shall be earliest”
Before you sue: We have not yet confirmed whether Delaware requires written notice to the builder before a lawsuit. Some states do, and skipping it can get a case stayed or dismissed. Ask a Delaware attorney before filing.
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. Some states require written notice to the builder before you can sue. We have not confirmed whether Delaware does, so check with a licensed attorney before filing. 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.