9.6 Statutes of Limitation and Repose

• Library: Virginia Construction Law Deskbook (Virginia CLE) (2019 Ed.)

9.6 STATUTES OF LIMITATION AND REPOSE

9.601 Statutes of Limitation. Construction contracts may contain specific limitations on the duration of warranties. In the absence of such limitations, the statute of limitations for breach of a written contract is five years. ¹¹³ The statute of limitations in an action for breach of an unwritten contract or of a contract that is in writing but not signed by the party to be charged or that party's agent is three years. ¹¹⁴ For warranty actions arising under the UCC, the statute of limitations is four years, but the construction contract can reduce this period to not less than one year. ¹¹⁵ The warranty provided by section 55.1-357 of the Virginia Code normally extends for one year (five years for the dwelling's foundation) from the transfer of record title or the buyer taking possession, whichever occurs first, and any action must be brought within two years of its breach. ¹¹⁶

9.602 Statute of Repose. Virginia's statute of repose prohibits any tort action against a contractor for injury to person or property arising from defective or unsafe conditions of improvements to real property more than five years after the contractor completed its work. ¹¹⁷ The statute, by its terms...