# Virginia Builder Defect Warranty Rules | Who Pays the Repair?

> Virginia codifies an implied warranty against structural defects, but bars claims 5 years after construction.

**Who pays:** third-party

Virginia statutorily warrants new homes against structural defects and poor workmanship, but the claim is barred just 5 years after construction services were furnished, one of the shortest windows surveyed.

**Boundary:** Virginia is one of the few states with a codified implied warranty on new-home sales, the builder-vendor statutorily warrants the home is free of structural defects and built in a workmanlike manner, but the claim is barred just 5 years after the construction services were furnished.

## Sources
- [Va. Code § 55.1-357: Implied warranties on new homes](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/55.1-357/) — "In every contract for the sale of a new dwelling, the vendor shall be held to warrant to the vendee that ... the dwelling with all of its fixtures is, to the best of the actual knowledge of the vendor or his agents, sufficiently (i) free from structural defects ... and (ii) constructed in a workmanlike manner." (accessed 2026-09-13)
- [Va. Code § 8.01-250](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/8.01-250/) — "No action to recover for any injury to property, real or personal, or for bodily injury or wrongful death, arising out of the defective and unsafe condition of an improvement to real property ... shall be brought ... more than five years after the performance or furnishing of such services and construction." (accessed 2026-09-13)

_Last verified 2026-09-20. Source: Who Pays the Repair? — https://whopaystherepair.com/rules/virginia-new-home-builder-defect-warranty/ — every claim checked against a primary source before publication (see /methodology/)._