Good news for Design Firms! On April 13, 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law SB 360. One significant change is that SB 360 shortens the statute of repose in Florida from ten to seven years. No changes were made to the four-year statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the timeframe when a known construction defect claim must be filed. The statute of repose extends this timeframe for latent, or hidden, construction defects. The new law amends Florida Statutes § 95.11(3)(c) for actions founded on the design, planning, and construction of improvements to real estate and shortens the timeframe for the latest date to file a construction defect claim to seven years.
The new law also amends the trigger for the statute of repose and the statute of limitations to be the earliest (instead of latest) of certain events, including a temporary certificate of occupancy, a certificate of occupancy, a certificate of completion, or abandonment of construction. The law removes the “date of actual possession of the owner” as one of the triggering dates for both the statute of repose and statute of limitations.
The new law went into effect upon signing and applies to construction defects lawsuits filed on or after April 13th. However, since the timeframes for the statute of repose and statute of limitations have been shortened, the law gives plaintiffs until July 1, 2024 to file claims that would now be prevented by the amended law.