Bought a house "as is"...now discovered hidden problem

I bought a house 3 years ago, and recently undertook a rehab project in the basement. I took down some plywood walls that the previous owner had installed, and found that one of the walls had been put up to hide a bowing support post for the rear of the house. In addition, the main waste line that went down into the sewer had punched through the floor because it had taken on the load of the weakened post.

What can I do? I bought the house as is because of an electrical issue that has since been corrected. But never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the previous owners would have hid something as significant as this. It's horrible!

I'm in Illinois. Thanks.

[HomeGuru]

Contact a real estate attorney right away as there is a statutes of limitations for filing a claim. An as-is sale does not protect a Seller for non-disclosure of a material fact that the Seller is aware of.

I'm still waiting to hear back from my attorney....but in the meantime, does anyone know what the limitation is in the State of Illinois? Thanks.

[HomeGuru]

Not off hand.