House Detective: Making the Most of Home Inspection |
Seller and Agent Fail to Disclose Defects Posted: 30 Dec 2010 12:20 AM PST The House Detective: by Barry Stone, Certified Home Inspector
Dear Leslie: If the agent was representing you, as well as his mother, that was not a good arrangement. You should have had your own agent to represent your interests. A good agent, working on your behalf, would have negotiated to have the seller provide a septic inspection report. The septic inspector would have found the septic access or would have discovered that the system was not accessible. In that case, an access would have been created to enable inspection and servicing of the system. If other septic repairs had been needed, that could have been negotiated before you bought the property. If access to the crawlspace was obstructed, your home inspector should have recommended that access be provided before the close of escrow. If that had been done, the faulty laundry drain, the excessive moisture condition, and possibly the mold would have been discovered. If these problems had come to light sooner, you might have held the seller, the agent, and the home inspector liable for faulty disclosure. After five years, you may no longer have recourse. However, you should check with a real estate attorney for clarification on that point. |
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