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Proposed legislation provides statutory warranties

Rep. Brendan Williams | • Published March 30, 2009

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As an attorney, were I negligent I could be disbarred and separately sued for negligence. Doctors are similarly accountable. Under state law, homebuilders are the only favored profession largely unaccountable for their bad acts.

Amazingly, Washington homebuilders cannot be sued for negligence. They can only be sued under construction contracts — if they failed to build to contracted-for standards.

Obviously it's rare for purchasers of new single-family homes to contract for home construction. And only original owner-occupants can sue under contract — no contract remedy for construction defects exists for subsequent purchasers.

The only other right for original owner-occupants of new homes is the so-called implied warranty of habitability — a simple guarantee houses will not immediately collapse. Those buying new cars have far more rights.

Neighboring Oregon is among states where homebuilders are fully accountable and can be sued for negligence. In Oregon, the builder of your home is accountable for defective construction even if you're not the home's original purchaser.

In between Washington's laxness, and states like Oregon, are states providing statutory warranty protections. They include "red" states such as Indiana, Louisiana and Texas. Washington provides such protections — but only to the relatively affluent, politically influential (think downtown Seattle) purchasers of new condominiums.

Since at least 2000, legislative efforts to confer homeowners rights in Washington have been defeated. That year, a Senate bill was introduced to provide statutory warranty rights. The bill was based upon the 1999 work of a home warranties work group.

Poignantly, in defeating the bill, the Building Industry Association of Washington testified, "This is a long-term problem, and the building industry will work on these problems."

Ten years later, we're no further along. In three of the past four years, Senate-passed homeowner-rights bills have passed House committees, only to be denied House floor votes.