North Dakota · Construction-defect rights
Here is what you have, and here is how to keep it.
In North Dakota you generally have 10 years after substantial completion to sue a designer or contractor for a construction defect. If the injury happens in the 10th year, suit can be filed within 2 years of that injury, but never more than 12 years after substantial completion.
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: bar not assertable by a person in actual possession or control when the deficiency proximately causes injury/death (§ 28-01-44(3)) It matters most where a builder still controls part of a project — a phased subdivision, an unfinished condo association.
You have ten years from substantial completion to sue over a construction defect in North Dakota (N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-44), and an injury in the tenth year buys up to two more years (never beyond twelve). A party still in actual possession and control of the property cannot raise the deadline against you.
The deadline
10 years to bring a construction-defect claim
N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-44(1)
10 years from substantial completion (N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-44(1)). Narrow tail: for an injury during the tenth year, a tort action may be brought within 2 years of the injury, "but in no event ... more than twelve years after ... substantial completion" (§ 28-01-44(2)). The bar may not be asserted by a person in actual possession/control of the improvement when the deficiency proximately causes injury/death (§ 28-01-44(3)). No fraud carve-out in the statute.
“No action, whether in contract, oral or written, in tort or otherwise, to recover damages ... may be brought against any person performing or furnishing the design, planning, supervision, or observation of construction, or construction of such an improvement more than ten years after substantial completion of such an improvement.”
Before you sue: We have not yet confirmed whether North Dakota requires written notice to the builder before a lawsuit. Some states do, and skipping it can get a case stayed or dismissed. Ask a North Dakota 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 North Dakota 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.