2019 Delaware Code
Title 25 - Property
Chapter 81. Delaware Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act
Subchapter IV Protection of Purchasers
§ 81-416 Statute of limitations for warranties.
(a) Unless a period of limitation is tolled under § 81-311 of this title or affected by subsection (d) of this section, a judicial proceeding for breach of any obligation arising under § 81-413 or § 81-414 of this title must be commenced within the applicable periods of any applicable statute of limitations or statute of repose but in all events within 6 years after the cause of action accrues.
(b) Subject to subsection (c) of this section, a cause of action for breach of warranty of quality, regardless of the purchaser’s lack of knowledge of the breach, accrues:
(1) As to a unit, at the time the purchaser to whom the warranty is first made enters into possession if a possessory interest was conveyed or at the time of acceptance of the instrument of conveyance if a nonpossessory interest was conveyed; and
(2) As to each common element, at the time the common element is completed or, if later, as to:
(i) a common element that is added to the common interest community by exercise of development rights, at the time the first unit which was added to the condominium by the same exercise of development rights is conveyed to a bona fide purchaser, or (ii) a common element within any other portion of the common interest community, at the time the first unit is conveyed to a bona fide purchaser.(c) If a warranty of quality explicitly extends to future performance or duration of any improvement or component of the common interest community, the cause of action accrues at the time the breach is discovered or at the end of the period for which the warranty explicitly extends, whichever is earlier.
(d) During the period of declarant control, the association may authorize an independent committee of the executive board to evaluate and enforce by any lawful means warranty claims involving the common elements, and to compromise those claims. Only members of the executive board elected by unit owners other than the declarant and other persons appointed by those independent members may serve on the committee, and the committee’s decision must be free of any control by the declarant or any member of the executive board or officer appointed by the declarant. All costs reasonably incurred by the committee, including attorneys’ fees, are common expenses, and must be added to the budget annually adopted by the association under § 81-315 of this title. If the committee is so created, the period of limitation for claims for these warranties begins to run from the date of the first meeting of the committee, regardless of when the period of declarant control terminates.
76 Del. Laws, c. 422, § 2; 77 Del. Laws, c. 91, § 82.
