Maryland · Construction-defect rights
Here is what you have, and here is how to keep it.
In Maryland you have ten years to sue the builder, architect or engineer, measured from when the home first became available for its intended use (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-108(b)). You still have only three years from discovering the problem to bring the claim.
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: not assertable by a defendant in actual possession/control (Md. Code Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-108(d)) It matters most where a builder still controls part of a project — a phased subdivision, an unfinished condo association.
You have ten years to sue the builder, architect or engineer, measured from when the home first became available for its intended use (Md. Code Cts. & Jud. Proc. s.5-108(b)). A party still in actual possession and control of the property cannot raise the deadline against you. (Maryland's twenty-year figure is a different, general rule - it is not the window for a claim against your builder.)
The deadline
10 years to bring a construction-defect claim
Md. Code Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-108(b)
FOR A CONSTRUCTION-DEFECT CLAIM AGAINST THE BUILDER: 10 years from the date the entire improvement first became available for its intended use (Md. Code Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-108(b)) — this is the repose that applies to architects, professional engineers and contractors, and it is the number that answers "how long can I sue the builder/designer." DO NOT publish Maryland as a "20-year" state: the 20-year figure in § 5-108(a) is the GENERAL property/personal-injury repose that reaches other defendants (e.g. owners, product manufacturers), NOT the design/construction professionals a homeowner sues over a defect. Treating the 20 as the construction repose would overstate the homeowner's window against the builder by a decade — the same wrong-subsection trap as reading Florida's old general limitations instead of its construction repose. EXCEPTIONS (§ 5-108(d)): the repose does not protect a defendant in actual possession and control of the property when the injury occurred, and does not apply to specified asbestos claims. NO fraud/concealment carve-out in the section — fraud_exempts_repose = false, verified from statute.
“a cause of action for damages does not accrue and a person may not seek contribution or indemnity from any architect, professional engineer, or contractor … more than 10 years after the date the entire improvement first became available for its intended use.”
Before you sue: Maryland has no statewide pre-suit notice law for houses. A new condominium's developer warranty requires notice of the defect within the warranty period. (Md. Code, Real Prop. § 11-131)
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. Maryland has no general pre-suit notice rule for a defect lawsuit; see "Before you sue" on this page for any notice that does apply. A record made at the time is still 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.