By Steven M. Katzman
Real estate is where Florida businesses concentrate their capital, and construction is where they put that capital most at risk on the promises of others. When the projects and the deals go right, nobody reads the contracts again. When they go wrong, a building that leaks from the day of turnover, a contractor who walks off with the draw, a lien recorded against a project you already paid for, a buyer who refuses to close after eighteen months of due diligence, the disputes are governed by some of the most technical, deadline-driven statutes in Florida law. These are not areas where general litigation instincts translate; the statutes themselves decide who has a claim, who has a defense, and who has already lost by missing a notice period they never knew existed.
A word of caution before anything else: construction and real estate law is unforgiving of informality precisely because the statutes reward the party with better paper. Lien rights are created and destroyed by notices measured in days. Defect claims die on repose deadlines that run regardless of when the problem is discovered. Contracts allocate delay, design, and payment risk in clauses everyone skipped at signing, and a course of dealing, handshake change orders, unwritten extensions, payments without releases, can quietly rewrite the deal. Whatever side of a dispute you are on, gather the complete written record before acting: the contract and every amendment, the notices, the pay applications and releases, the emails and daily logs. The party that reconstructs the paper trail first usually frames the case.
This guide surveys the disputes we see most across Florida construction projects and real estate deals: defect claims and their deadlines, the lien and bond framework, project payment and delay fights, and the litigation that follows failed purchases and broken leases.
Construction defect claims: Chapter 558 and the shrinking clock
Florida channels most construction defect disputes, water intrusion, structural failures, code violations, failed systems, through a mandatory pre-suit process in Chapter 558, Florida Statutes. Before filing suit, the owner (or association) must serve a written notice of claim describing each alleged defect in reasonable detail, generally at least 60 days before suit, or 120 days for larger community associations. The contractor, subcontractors, and design professionals then get statutory rights to inspect, to conduct destructive testing by agreement, and to respond with an offer to repair, an offer of money, or a denial. The process is not optional decoration; courts abate lawsuits filed without it, and the notice’s content shapes the case, because defects omitted from it can require restarting the clock.
The deadlines behind the process changed dramatically in 2023. Under the amended Fla. Stat. § 95.11(3)(c):
- The statute of limitations is four years from the triggering events defined by the statute, which now run from the earlier of milestones like the temporary certificate of occupancy, certificate of occupancy, or abandonment, rather than from later dates that once extended claims.
- The statute of repose for latent defects, ones not discoverable at completion, was cut from ten years to seven. After seven years, even a serious hidden defect is barred, full stop, regardless of when it was or could have been discovered.
- A companion change to Fla. Stat. § 553.84 requires a material building code violation to support that statutory claim, tightening what was once a broad cause of action.
The practical consequence: Florida owners and associations can no longer wait out slow-developing problems. Buildings approaching their seventh year need defect evaluations now, and sellers, developers, and contractors face a correspondingly shorter tail of exposure. Warranty claims, breach of contract claims against the builder, and negligence claims against design professionals each carry their own elements and accrual rules, and the interplay between them, covered in part in our guide to breach of contract in Florida, is where defect cases are won.
Construction liens: powerful rights, brutal deadlines
Florida’s Construction Lien Law, Chapter 713, Florida Statutes, gives contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and design professionals a security interest in the property they improve, and takes it away from anyone who misses its deadlines:
- Lienors without a direct contract with the owner generally must serve a notice to owner within 45 days of first furnishing labor or materials, or the lien right is gone before it starts.
- The claim of lien must be recorded within 90 days of final furnishing, and served on the owner shortly after recording.
- Suit to foreclose the lien must be filed within one year of recording, a period the owner can compress to 60 days by recording a notice of contest, or to 20 days by a show-cause proceeding under Fla. Stat. § 713.21.
Owners hold their own statutory weapons: the notice of commencement and proper-payments framework, which can cap an owner’s exposure when payments were made correctly, transfer of the lien to a bond to clear title, and Fla. Stat. § 713.31, under which a fraudulent lien, one willfully exaggerated or asserted for improper purpose, is not just discharged but exposes the lienor to damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees. On bonded private projects, payment disputes route to the surety under Fla. Stat. § 713.23, and on public projects through Fla. Stat. § 255.05, each with its own notice and suit deadlines. Nearly every lien and bond fight also carries a prevailing-party fee component, which raises the stakes of getting the technicalities exactly right.
Project disputes: payment, delay, and termination
Between defect claims and lien claims sits the ordinary lifeblood of construction litigation: the project that goes sideways while everyone is still on it. Recurring battlegrounds include nonpayment and draw disputes, where pay applications, lien releases, and retainage provisions control; change orders and scope creep, where contracts requiring signed written change orders collide with projects run by text message; delay and disruption claims, where no-damages-for-delay clauses, notice provisions, and schedule analyses decide whether time really is money; and termination, the nuclear option, where terminating for default without strictly following the contract’s cure-notice procedure converts an owner’s strong position into a wrongful termination claim. Hypothetically: a Broward County developer terminates its general contractor for chronic delays, but skips the contract’s seven-day cure notice and hires the replacement before the architect certifies grounds for default. The contractor records a lien for its unpaid draw and termination costs, and what began as the owner’s delay claim is now a two-front fight about the owner’s own breach. The paper, not the delay, will decide it.
Construction contracts also route many of these fights into private forums: AIA and industry forms frequently mandate arbitration, and the choice between arbitrator and jury, explored in our guide to arbitration versus litigation, should be made when the contract is signed, not discovered when the dispute erupts.
When real estate deals fall apart
Florida’s commercial real estate market generates its own steady docket of disputes, and the remedies are distinctive because land is legally unique:
- Failed closings. When a buyer or seller refuses to close, the non-breaching party may seek the deposit, contract damages, or specific performance, a court order compelling the sale itself, a remedy courts grant for real property more readily than anywhere else in contract law. Whether the contract makes the deposit the exclusive remedy is often the whole case.
- Escrow and deposit fights, where brokers and title agents interplead funds and the purchase contract’s default provisions control.
- Disclosure and fraud claims. Sellers of residential property must disclose known latent defects materially affecting value, while commercial transactions remain largely governed by caveat emptor, making the contract’s representations, and claims for fraud in the inducement, the buyer’s real protection.
- Title and boundary litigation, quiet title actions, easement and access disputes, and lis pendens battles, where recording a notice of pending litigation against a property is a powerful and heavily regulated form of leverage.
- Commercial lease disputes. Evictions, CAM and operating-expense fights, exclusivity and co-tenancy clauses, and guaranty enforcement, with a Florida-specific pressure point: a commercial tenant contesting eviction generally must deposit the disputed rent into the court registry under Fla. Stat. § 83.232, and failure to do so is an absolute waiver of defenses other than payment. Landlords win many contested evictions on that statute alone.
Many of these disputes are avoidable at the drafting table, which is why our litigators work alongside the firm’s business transactions practice on the front end, and why damages modeling, lost profits, diminished value, carrying costs, runs through our financial damages practice when prevention is no longer an option.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sue my contractor immediately over construction defects? Generally no. Chapter 558 requires a detailed pre-suit notice of claim and an opportunity for the contractor to inspect and offer a repair or settlement before most defect suits may proceed. Filing without it invites abatement and wastes months.
How long do I have to bring a construction defect claim in Florida? Four years under § 95.11(3)(c), with the clock now starting at early completion milestones, and a hard seven-year statute of repose for latent defects. Buildings nearing seven years from completion should be evaluated promptly, because repose extinguishes even undiscovered claims.
A subcontractor I never hired recorded a lien on my property. Is that allowed? Potentially yes. Florida’s lien law protects subcontractors and suppliers who properly served a notice to owner, even without a contract with you. Your protections lie in the notice of commencement and proper-payments framework, lien transfer bonds, and challenges to untimely or fraudulent liens.
What happens if a lien against my property is exaggerated? A willfully exaggerated or bad-faith lien can be declared fraudulent under § 713.31, which discharges the lien and exposes the lienor to damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees. Precision in lien amounts is not optional.
Can I force a buyer or seller to complete a real estate closing? Often, yes. Because real property is unique, Florida courts grant specific performance of purchase contracts more readily than in other contract disputes, subject to the contract’s remedy limitations and the claimant’s own readiness to perform.
My commercial landlord filed for eviction. Can I fight it without paying rent? Usually not. Section 83.232 requires a commercial tenant to deposit disputed rent into the court registry as litigation proceeds; failing to do so waives nearly all defenses and entitles the landlord to immediate possession.
Talk to a Florida construction and real estate litigation attorney
Construction and real estate disputes are decided by statutes that reward preparation, punish missed notices, and shift attorney’s fees to the winner, which makes early, technically precise counsel the highest-leverage decision a party can make. KWBR’s real estate and construction practice handles defect, lien, payment, and closing disputes across Florida alongside our complex commercial litigation team, in court and in arbitration. Whether you are an owner, developer, contractor, lender, landlord, or tenant, if a project or a deal is heading toward a fight, contact us for a confidential consultation before the next deadline runs.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. The examples above are hypothetical illustrations, not real cases. Every dispute turns on its specific contracts, notices, and facts; consult a qualified Florida attorney about your situation.