House Misrepresented?

[ceeveg]

We bought our house three years ago, had it fully inspected and appraised before purchase, and none of the issues that we've since dealt with came up during the inspection.

It turned out that our home had sustained significant water damage for past several years, necessitating our taking everything out of the kitchen and second bedroom, including drywall, carpeting, etc..

Now we're facing plumbing issues in every room of the house with a drain. We haven't yet called a plumber but, after speaking with the neighbors, believe our house may be on a septic system, even though we were told it was not at the time of purchase.

If it turns out to be the case, do or can we take some sort of legal action?

Thank you so much! Please let me know if you need any other details.

[lifeguard]

I don't believe there is anything you can really do as by getting the house inspection done that is supposed to be the "guarantee" that things are good. But not all inspectors are good at their job. How did he/she miss that kind of water damage?

[SleeplessMommy]

Originally Posted by ceeveg

...after speaking with the neighbors, believe our house may be on a septic system, even though we were told it was not at the time of purchase....

Wow. who told you it was on the public sewers... real estate agent or seller? law varies by state... here in pa seller is required to disclose known defects (water damage, etc) What a bad situation to be on a septic and not know where the cleanout is located.

I think you should talk with a real estate lawyer. the challenge will be proving the damage was known/visible when you bought the house.

[Mommy2Austin]

Are we the same people? I swear we going through the same thing. Although we knew we were on a septic, we didn't know the previous owners redneck engineered it and I now have a huge hole in my backyard so we can fix the issues. Our master bathroom was poorly renovated and had a slow leak in the pipe leading up the wall into the shower so we had to bust all of that out and finally managed to get rid of the moldy smell in there. So we were down to 1 shower and night before last I was adjusting the shower head and the pipe broke right at the wall. As in the entire pipe sticking out that held the shower head broke off in my hand. I feel your pain.

Now we bought ours as a foreclosure as is, so we're up the creek. Hopefully you will have some recourse to help with your unforseen incurred costs!

[luckygreen713]

Ugh, what a nightmare! I just want to say that I feel your pain, OP. My DH and I are are ina similar situation as well, with a house we feel was misrepresented. We also had a full inspection and appraisal but so many major problems weren't found. We have a slow leak in our roof in the master bedroom which has lead to severe wood decay in out roof, a leaking basement, and major rodent infestation that lead to all kinds of damage within the walls of our house. I looked in to legal action against the inspector but didn't really get anywhere, since he had us sign papers basically saying he's not responsible if he misses something. GRR!!! In your case you should contact a real estate attorney, as a PP suggested. You will probably be more successful with that since your house was represented as having public sewers. WOW, that's horrible. Good luck to you and your family, I wish you the best in getting this mess sorted out!

[DirtRoadMama]

I've found that most of the inspections you have done are for your information only. The past two times I've had inspections done (one in Nebraska, one in Iowa), both times I asked if there was a guarantee on the inspection, and I was told that it was for my information only. No guarantee. Anyway, check the inspection sheet you were given, and see what it says.

I believe the only way you would be able to get anything out of the seller is if they knew there was a problem and did not disclose it. That would be tough to prove.

If your house is on a septic, I believe you should have an access to it somewhere. It should look like a manhole cover, and say "septic" on it somewhere. I agree that you should have been told it if was a septic or not, and talking to a lawyer isn't a bad idea.

[SunshineJ]

I'm sure this probably varies by state, but when we bought our last house the owners had to fill out a questinairre about different things regarding the condition of the house. Check your paperwork and if there's one in there, you can sue the previous owners for the costs of repairs. In some states, the inspector can be held liable as well. Check your state laws (or better yet consult a real estate attorney in your area) and see if you have any recourse.

[ceeveg]

Thank you for all these great responses. We will definitely speak to a real estate attorney. I don't think the inspector found the water damage because the back wall that had the most leaks was freshly drywalled and painted apparently.

We went back through the disclosure form, and there was an answer that had obviously been checked 'no' and then whited out. When we got the copy of the report, it was a photo copy, so we didn't automatically see the whiteout.

Ugh. I guess this is probably a buyer beware situation

[kate42]

Do you have a survey of the property? That should show you where a septic tank is.

[newbymom05]

My brother bought a house that was misrepresented by the seller regarding extensive water damage, AND had things like extensive termite damage that was missed by the (totally incompetent) inspector. He had no recourse against the inspector, but sued the seller and eventually won and the seller paid for all the repairs.

The seller was actually an attorney, and I guess planned to waste so much time in legal foot-dragging that any buyer would eventually give up and eat the costs. Fortunately, our father is an attorney and so did all the legal work for free. I don't know if my brother could have collected anything if he had to pay an attorney for the two or so years it took to resolve the issues, especially since the issues, once found, had to be addressed and paid for immediately and resulted in a total gut and redo of the master bath.

G/L, OP, my family was *shocked* that anyone, especially an attorney, would act in such an outright deceitful and fraudulent manner. There are some really jerky people out there.

[_ktg_]

Originally Posted by ceeveg

We bought our house three years ago, had it fully inspected and appraised before purchase, and none of the issues that we've since dealt with came up during the inspection.

It turned out that our home had sustained significant water damage for past several years, necessitating our taking everything out of the kitchen and second bedroom, including drywall, carpeting, etc..

Now we're facing plumbing issues in every room of the house with a drain. We haven't yet called a plumber but, after speaking with the neighbors, believe our house may be on a septic system, even though we were told it was not at the time of purchase.

If it turns out to be the case, do or can we take some sort of legal action?

Thank you so much! Please let me know if you need any other details.

When we bought our house, we had a long chat with our inspector and he was very nice in pointing out there maybe problems with the house he wouldn't be able to find or see. He specifically spelled out - his job was to evaluate the house the best he could of visable problems, so if there was water damage but had been "cosmetically" repaired by the sellers, he wouldn't catch it.

Review what your inspector provided in terms of their contract of service as that would be your first step in determining if they failed to provide the services you paid for.

2nd find a lawyer experienced in this area to determine what is your recourse as an owner of property which had false information provided. You probably have a better chance here to recoup any costs.

[Jane]

Some of this stuff is gonna fall under, "gosh shoulda asked" and some is stuff you could sue for. I get so angry when I hear of bad real estate agents. They all get the same 6% to split (generally) yet some are AWESOME and some really are inadequate. If you've never done it before, how do you know to ask about septic?
The intentionally hidden stuff about water damage is something you could sue the previous owners about. But you'd have to prove they knew about it. Usually by getting a previous contractor/plumber to testify they did XX work on the house. Or having town property tax photos (not everywhere does this) that show the old damage. And it requires several years and a lawyer. And then, they have to pay you, which is really hard to get sometimes. Very frustrating!

Anyway, the septic is likely to be a quick fix! Really. If it's backing up in the drains, you probably have a clog and need the tank roto-rooted (aka snaked) and pumped out. Less than $100 to $200. I LOVE my septic system. We have sewer in the road, but aren't hooked up. My neighbors have paid $8,000 to hook up and then $84 a month in sewer fees. I pay $100 every other year to have my tank pumped. Soooo much more economical than sewer!
We knew we had a clog and rented a snake, but couldn't get it outselves. We found a pump truck guy that would come out and pump the tank and he snaked it for us for the cost of the pump out - saved us an expensive plumber call for what was a pretty simple issue.