Minnesota Home Warranty Law: New Homes and Remodeling

Minnesota law attaches a warranty to every sale of a new home, completed or to be completed, and to the sale of home improvement work, and the state’s consumer guide says it is in effect whether or not it is in writing. You can lose it if you do not report a problem in writing in time.

The warranties at a glance

Minnesota Statutes 327A.02 sets the warranties. Each covers defects “due to noncompliance with building standards”: the materials and installation standards of the State Building Code in effect at the time of the construction or remodeling. In this guide, “builder” means the home builder or the home improvement contractor.

What was sold	One year	Two years	Ten years
New home	Faulty workmanship and defective materials	Faulty installation of plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems	Major construction defects
Home improvement work involving major structural changes or additions	Faulty workmanship and defective materials	Not listed	Major construction defects
Home improvement work involving the installation of plumbing, electrical, heating or cooling systems	Not listed	Faulty installation of the system	Not listed
Any other home improvement work	Faulty workmanship or defective materials	Not listed	Not listed

The statute does not say a job falls under only one row. Rows two and three each apply to work “involving” that type. The last row is for work those two do not cover.

• When the clock starts. For a new home, the “warranty date” is the earlier of the day the first buyer first occupies it or takes legal or equitable title. For a home improvement, it is the day the work was completed.
• Major construction defect. Actual damage to the load-bearing portion, including damage due to subsidence, expansion or lateral movement of the soil, that affects the load-bearing function and “vitally affects or is imminently likely to vitally affect” use as a residence.
• Left out. The definitions of a new home and of a home improvement both leave out detached garages, driveways, walkways, patios, fences and landscaping, among others.
• Who owes it. The “vendor” that constructs a new home, not a subcontractor or material supplier. On an improvement, the “home improvement contractor”: a person in the business of home improvement, full time or part time, who holds out to the public as having knowledge or skill peculiar to that business.
• Later owners. Subsequent purchasers and owners are covered. The dissolution of a builder that is a corporation or limited liability company does not affect the warranties.

Where the consumer guide and the statute differ

• The Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) consumer guide lists all three periods for “a new home or home improvement project”. The statute splits home improvements, as above.
• The consumer guide says a major construction defect “does not include damage caused by natural disasters”. The statute is narrower: it leaves out soil movement caused by flood, earthquake or other natural disaster.

What to do when something fails

1. Report it in writing within six months. 327A.03 excludes loss or damage not reported to the builder in writing within six months after you discover it or should have discovered it, unless you establish that the builder had actual notice. Keep a dated copy.
2. Allow an inspection. The builder must inspect within 30 days of your notice. The inspecting party must promptly repair any damage it causes.
3. Get the written offer to repair. It is due within 15 days after the inspection is completed. It must give the scope of the repair, a proposed start date and an estimated completion date. You may get the same information from another contractor, or negotiate a different scope.
4. If you agree, the builder must do the repair as offered, then give you written notice that the agreed work is complete.
5. If you do not agree, the statute says you “must submit the matter” to the home warranty dispute resolution process. DLI’s page says homeowners “may have to apply” to that process “(or an approved alternate process)” or wait 60 days before a lawsuit.
6. If the builder does not inspect, make an offer or do the agreed repairs, the statute says you may commence an action.

The dispute resolution process

DLI runs it, and the result binds neither side.

Step	Deadline
Apply to DLI in writing, with the full name and complete current address of each side’s contact person.	DLI’s timeline begins when you reject the offer to repair
DLI sends both sides a list of three neutrals picked at random	Within ten days of receiving the request
Both sides pick one neutral. If you cannot agree, the builder strikes one name, then you strike one.	Within five business days after receiving the list
Send your documents to the neutral and, the statute adds, to the other party	At least seven days before the conference
Attend the in-person conference	No later than 30 days after the neutral is selected, unless both sides agree otherwise
The neutral mails each side a written, nonbinding decision. To the extent possible, it covers which repairs are necessary, if any, and how much.	Within ten days after the conference

• Cost. Each party pays the neutral a $25 administrative fee and, unless they agree otherwise, an equal share of the neutral’s billed time. The neutral must state an hourly rate and may not bill more than six hours unless both parties agree in writing.
• Small repairs. DLI says that when the repair cost falls within the $15,000 conciliation court threshold, the cost of the process may lead the parties to go to court instead. DLI’s Recovery Fund instructions give $20,000 as the conciliation court limit, so the state’s pages differ. Ask the court which applies.
• Another route. If both sides agree, the statute lets them use an alternative process instead, with written notice to DLI by the date for selecting a neutral.
• If the builder will not take part. DLI’s page says the builder is not required to participate, and that you are then free to begin litigation immediately. The statute reads differently: each party shall attend the conference, and the only exception it names to the wait below is step six. Ask a lawyer before you file early.

Process questions: ENE.DLI@state.mn.us, the only contact the page gives for them.

When you can go to court

• The wait. Unless step six applies, the statute bars a district court action until the earlier of two dates: the completion of the dispute resolution process, or 60 days after you are given the written offer to repair. DLI’s page differs. Where the builder has complied with all of the notice and opportunity to repair provisions, it says you cannot sue until you have “applied” to use the process or waited the 60 days.
• The pause. The statute pauses the time limits to sue from the date your written notice is postmarked or, if not mailed, received by the builder. It lasts until the later of the end of the process or 180 days. The statute does not say what the 180 days run from. DLI’s page describes the pause as beginning when you mail the notice and extending for 180 days or until the process is complete, whichever is later.
• The time limit. Minnesota Statutes 541.051, subdivision 4, says an action based on breach of these statutory warranties must be brought within two years of the discovery of the breach. The same two-year rule covers an action on an express written warranty. For an action under 327A.05 that accrues during the ninth or tenth year after the warranty date, it again allows two years from the discovery of the breach. It then says that in no event may an action under 327A.05 be brought more than 12 years after the effective warranty date. The same section sets other limits for other kinds of claims. Ask a lawyer about your own dates.

What you can recover

327A.05 gives you a cause of action against the builder for damages arising out of the breach, or for “specific performance”. It limits the damages:

• New home: to the amount necessary to remedy the defect or breach, or the difference between the value of the home without the defect and with it.
• Home improvement: to the amount necessary to remedy the defect or breach.

DLI’s consumer guide says no government agency has authority to interpret or enforce this warranty law. The route it names is a private civil action.

What the warranty does not cover

327A.03 limits the builder’s liability to the specific items in the law. Besides problems not reported in time (step one), it excludes loss or damage from:

• normal wear and tear
• normal shrinkage caused by drying, within tolerances of building standards
• dampness and condensation due to insufficient ventilation after occupancy
• negligence, improper maintenance or alteration by parties other than the builder
• grading changes around the home by parties other than the builder
• failure to maintain the home or improvement in good repair
• accidents “usually described as acts of God”: fire, explosion, smoke, water escape, windstorm, hail or lightning, falling trees, aircraft and vehicles, flood and earthquake, among others, “except when the loss or damage is caused by failure to comply with building standards”
• soil movement that is compensated by legislation or covered by insurance
• soil conditions, where construction is done on land you own and obtained from a source independent of the builder
• on home improvement work, defects in the existing structure and systems not caused by the improvement

It also excludes:

• loss or damage caused by defects in design, installation or materials that you supplied, installed or directed to be installed
• secondary loss or damage, such as personal injury or property damage
• landscaping or insect loss or damage
• loss or damage you have not taken timely action to minimize, whenever feasible
• loss or damage that occurs after the home or improvement is no longer used primarily as a residence

Can you sign it away?

Mostly no. 327A.04 says the warranty law “cannot be waived or modified by contract or otherwise”, and any agreement that purports to do so is void. It allows two exceptions:

• A written exclusion or change after the contract is entered into. It must be in boldface type of at least ten points, signed by you, and detail the warranty involved, your consent and the new terms. It has no effect unless the builder provides substitute express warranties with “substantially the same protections”.
• A known major defect in a new home. If a major construction defect is discovered before the sale, the ten-year warranty may be waived for that one defect, after full oral disclosure of it. The statute lists what the waiver must set out in detail. You, the builder and two witnesses sign it. It is not effective unless recorded with the county recorder or registrar of titles.

Separately, 327A.07 lets the commissioner of labor and industry approve variations from the warranties and the exclusions when a builder’s warranty program offers at least substantially the same protections.

What to do next

• Look up the builder: how to check a contractor’s license.
• For help with a dispute with a residential contractor, call DLI at 651-284-5069.
• See also contractor problems and the Contractor Recovery Fund.

Common questions

Sources

Every rule, number and deadline in this guide comes from these official pages, read on November 12, 2026. Rules change. The source is always the final word.

• Minnesota Statutes 327A.02: Statutory warranties (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
• Minnesota Statutes 327A.01: Definitions (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
• Minnesota Statutes 327A.03: Exclusions (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
• Minnesota Statutes 327A.04: Waiver and modification limited (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
• Minnesota Statutes 327A.05: Remedies (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
• Minnesota Statutes 327A.07: Variations
• Minnesota Statutes 327A.051: Home warranty dispute resolution (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
• Minnesota Statutes 541.051: Limitation of action for damages based on services or construction to improve real property (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes)
• Home warranty dispute resolution process (Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry)
• A Consumer's Guide to Hiring a Residential Building Contractor (Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry)
• How to Apply to the Contractor Recovery Fund (Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry)

This guide is general information, not legal advice.