Builder’s Warranty, Or How to Guarantee Your Contractor Will Fix Your Leaky Roof
We all have different ideas about our dream home. Some people are lucky enough to find it on the real estate market, but more and more frequently others elect to build. Whether you’re buying into a new development community, a newly constructed condominium conversion, or you bravely decide to buy a piece of land and build your own house, new construction allows a buyer to specify and build to suit their expectations and tastes.
Unfortunately, building your own home or buying new construction does not always work out the way you want. Your windows could leak, there may be cracks in the ceiling, or worse, your foundation is not stable because a support beam was not put beneath your kitchen and your refrigerator is starting to sink to the basement.
The best way to protect your interests is to have a solid builder’s warranty backing up the construction on your home, so that you are not saddled with costly repairs after the closing.
From a legal standpoint, when buying new construction and negotiating the warranty, you need to make sure that the warranty runs from and to the people with the ability, and legal responsibility, for correcting any mistakes. During the actual construction process, things can get tangled between the various contractors, sub-contractors and developers. Ensuring that the party offering the warranty has both the resources and legal obligation to make any covered repairs is the job of the buyer’s lawyer before and at closing.
Most commonly, claims are filed with the developer (seller of the property). Mistakes can be made, and valid warranty claims can be lost, if the buyer files their warranty claims only with the contractor. It is critical for a buyer to know both what the warranty deadline periods are on their project, and who must be notified for them to be valid.
Warranties themselves can vary greatly, and will often depend on whether the developer’s lawyer or the buyer’s lawyer plays the leading role in drafting the language. Builders tend to be very restrictive in the language of their builder’s warranties and some are quite hesitant to do any negotiating. Even in this instance, it is important for the buyer to carefully understand what is covered and what is excluded in their warranty, and know the deadlines and notice requirements to file a valid claim.
Some legislators are jumping on the homeowner protection bandwagon. The Rocky Mountain News reported that on March 28, 2007, the Colorado House gave first-round approval to the Homeowner Protection Act, House Bill 1338.
This bill would prevent home buyers from being forced to sign builder warranties that strip away their legal rights to have home defects fixed.
While these laws do not apply in Massachusetts, a real estate attorney can negotiate on a buyer’s behalf to get them the broadest coverage that their builder will agree to.
Contact a Massachusetts Real Estate Lawyer
For more information on home warranties and other real estate matters, please contact us here and receive a response from one of our real estate attorneys within hours. If you prefer, you can also telephone our offices in Boston, Massachusetts seven days a week at toll free 866-414-0400.
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Ryan P.B. Kelly is an associate and a member of Parker Scheer's Corporate and Real Estate Practice Groups. Mr. Kelly's corporate practice involves the formation and organization process, governance, business finance, strategic planning, the structure, terms and negotiation of various contracts, management and ownership succession, and a wide variety of other legal issues that arise in the course of conducting a business and planning for its future.