Seller did not disclose plumbing problem; what is procedure for having seller pay for repairs?
Question Details:
After a week in our newly purchased house, a waste water backup resulted in our having a camera sent through a discharge pipe. The plumbers identified a significant hole that has existed for a while.They also see that this pipe has had a plumbing cable sent through before to clear the line. The seller answered "no"on the SPDS disclosure form with regards to existing plumbing problems. How do we proceed in having the seller pay for what will be very significant repairs?
Real Estate Law Answers
You would have to sue the seller--there is no other mechanism for recovering money. You'd be suing in fraud: that seller(s) made a material (or important) misrepresentation when they stated on the disclosure form that there was no existing plumbing problem. Note however that it's not 100% clear that they did--even if the line had been snaked or otherwise clearned before, sellers *may* have thought that had fixed the problem. You would have to show that the sellers knew, or *really* should have known, of the hole. Before contemplating the lawsuit further, you might therefore ask your plumbers whether it is possible that sellers legitimately did not know of the hole.
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