KB Home Changes Contract: Homeowners can now sue

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KB Home is making a change that will impact all their current and future homeowners – it’s a new development since our Trouble Shooter investigation.

Last month, we told you that as a KB Home owner, you sign away your right to go to court -- you are not allowed to sue the company over basic warranty disputes, but that's about to change.

KB Home tells the Trouble Shooters that it is removing the mandatory "Binding Arbitration" clause from all contracts. That means if you have unresolved problems with your home that you think KB is responsible for fixing, you're not bound to the decision of a third party arbitrator. You now have the option of taking your complaints to the courthouse.

“In very practical terms, this is going to have a very small impact,” KB Home Spokesperson Cathy Teague told News 4 WOAI. “Because most of our disputes regarding a warranty claim are handled very quickly, very fairly, very amicably, and we expect that will continue.”

As we told you last month, KB's current binding arbitration clause appears to violate a federal order and has become the focus of a lawsuit. But now KB has notified both the Federal Trade Commission and the court of the change.

This change affects all KB Home owners - current and future. You can expect to get a letter from the company within the next 60 days.

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