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Milton Co. v. Council of Unit Owners of Bentley Place Condominium5/18/1999
warranties. This Court held in Antigua Condominium Ass'n v. Melba Investors Atlantic, Inc., 307 Md. 700, 725, 517 A.2d 75, 87-88 (1986), and in Starfish Condominium Ass'n v. Yorkridge Service Corp., 295 Md. 693, 701, 458 A.2d 805, 809 (1983), that the warranties statutorily implied under § 10-203 apply where condominium units are sold by a vendor to a purchaser. There are also implied warranties under § 11-131. In sending this case to the jury the circuit court allowed the jury to consider both the Title 10 and Title 11 implied warranties together under the implied warranty count, and the court instructed the jury that no notice was required to be given by or on behalf of a purchaser to the vendor in order for the purchaser to obtain the benefit of the Title 10 warranties.
The Petitioners contend that the enactment of § 11-131 (Chapter 246 of the Acts of 1981) after the implied warranties under § 10-203 had been created (Chapter 151 of the Acts of 1970) had the effect of attaching the notice requirements for the § 11-131 warranties onto the § 10-203 warranties where the dwelling that is sold is a condominium unit. In support of this position the Petitioners point to the differences between the two warranties that might arise as to when a warranty commences and to the differences in the length of the warranty periods and in the times for suit, as well as the absence of a notice requirement in § 10-203 in contrast with the notice requirement in § 11-131.
The next step in the Petitioners' argument invokes § 11-141(c) which provides: "If the application of the provisions of this title conflict with the application of other provisions of the public general laws ... the provisions of this title shall prevail." The resolution of the "conflicts" between § 11-131 and § 10-203, the Petitioners assert, is to conform the § 10-203 warranties to § 11-131. Further arguing from that premise, the Petitioners submit that the jury instructions' erroneous omission of any notice requirement for the § 10-203 implied warranties fatally infects the verdict on the breach of implied warranties count.
The Council's position is that there is no conflict because the General Assembly intended both warranties to operate independently, so that a claim may be asserted, depending on the facts, under § 10-203 or under § 11-131, or both, so long as there is only one recovery. The circuit court and the Court of Special Appeals agreed with the Council's position, and so do we.
There is, to be sure, considerable overlap in the subject matter of the implied warranties under the two statutory sections. The § 10-203 warranties are that the improvement is "(1) ree from faulty materials; (2) onstructed according to sound engineering standards; (3) onstructed in a workmanlike manner; and (4) it for habitation." The warranty under § 11-131(b) from a developer to a unit owner provides, inter alia, " hat the developer is responsible for correcting any defects in materials or workmanship in the construction of walls, ceilings, floors, and heating and air conditioning systems in the unit." With respect to the § 11-131 warranty on common elements, it applies to "the roof, foundation, external and supporting walls, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, and other structural elements." § 11-131(c)(1). That warranty also provides that "the developer is responsible for correcting any defect in materials or workmanship, and that the specified common elements are within acceptable industry standards in effect when the building was constructed." § 11-131(c)(2). Rather than attempting to draw a subject matter line between the warranties under the two titles, and apparently to insure that no protection to consumers was
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