Montgomery County, Maryland has updated its new home warranty law to require both new home builders and new home sellers to provide a construction warranty to the purchaser of the home. The law is intended to provide additional protection to home purchasers in response to the industry trend where a homebuilder owns the land and sells new homes which are constructed by a related construction company.
The required warranty is for 1 year on any defects in materials or workmanship; 2 years on the electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling, ventilating and mechanical systems; and 5 years on major structural defects. This is substantially the same warranty which has been required by the prior Montgomery County new home warranty law.
The updated law establishes greater uniformity with the State of Maryland’s builder registration law and is intended to ensure that building permits for new homes constructed and sold to the public are issued to home builders registered with the County. It also deletes outdated references to the County’s prior third-party warranty requirements and new home security fund.
The new warranty law applies to new home sales beginning May 16, 2019.