§ 55.1-2168 — Statute of limitations for warranties

Virginia § 55.1-2168

• Jurisdiction: Virginia
• Title 55.1: Property and Conveyances
• Subtitle IV: Common Interest Communities
• Ch. 21: Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act
• Art. 4: Protection of Cooperative Purchasers

Text

A. A judicial proceeding for breach of any obligation arising under § 55.1-2165 or 55.1-2166 must be commenced within six years after the cause of action accrues, but the parties may agree to reduce the period of limitation to not less than two years. With respect to a unit that may be occupied for residential use, an agreement to reduce the period of limitation must be evidenced by a separate instrument executed by the purchaser of the cooperative interest for that unit.

B. Subject to subsection C, 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, (i) as to a common element that may be added to the cooperative or portion of the cooperative, at the time the first cooperative interest for a unit in such cooperative interest is conveyed to a bona fide purchaser, or (ii) as to a common element within any other portion of the cooperative, at the first time a cooperative interest in the cooperative 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 cooperative, 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.

Legislative History

1982, c. 277, § 55-491; 2019, c. 712.