Can I hold Seller Liable for Not disclosing infor

[NYyankees305]

What is the name of your state? PA

We just recently bought a house, we closed on it 6/24/2005. It is now 7/8/2005 and we woke up this morning to find that the bathroom ceiling was leaking, and had a nice puddle of water on the floor, my husband went up into the attic opened the crawl space, to find a nice huge tupperware container left there by the seller to catch the water leaking from the roof. The container was full, and there was alot of debris and sediment in it, so it had to have been there for a while. We did have the house inspected, and when the inspector went into the crawl space, that container was not there, I know this because I was there will he inspected the house. The roof was replaced by the seller 3/2005, because of storm damage. However, she did not disclose on her seller disclosure list that the roof was still leaking, it specifically asks on the disclosure list, about any leaks, dampness or any attempts to repair or control water leakage in the basement or crawl spaces, and she checked "NO". She lied about a lot of things on her disclosure list, that we did not find out until the house was inspected. She lied about the house having Knob and Tube wiring, she checked "no", and the inspector clearly pointed out the knob and tube to me in the basment while doing the inspection. (the seller had a relative that was a licsensed electrician, that had done electrical work on the house previoulsy, so she knew that there was knob and tube in the house) Is there any recourse we have to holding the seller resposible for the roof still leaking? I'm too the point I'm fed up with this house already. We almost couldn't get financing on the house, because it had Knob and Tube, and our insurance company wasn't going to insure the house, unless the wiring was updated. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[Charles11]

Originally Posted by NYyankees305

What is the name of your state? PA

We just recently bought a house, we closed on it 6/24/2005. It is now 7/8/2005 and we woke up this morning to find that the bathroom ceiling was leaking, and had a nice puddle of water on the floor, my husband went up into the attic opened the crawl space, to find a nice huge tupperware container left there by the seller to catch the water leaking from the roof. The container was full, and there was alot of debris and sediment in it, so it had to have been there for a while. We did have the house inspected, and when the inspector went into the crawl space, that container was not there, I know this because I was there will he inspected the house. The roof was replaced by the seller 3/2005, because of storm damage. However, she did not disclose on her seller disclosure list that the roof was still leaking, it specifically asks on the disclosure list, about any leaks, dampness or any attempts to repair or control water leakage in the basement or crawl spaces, and she checked "NO". She lied about a lot of things on her disclosure list, that we did not find out until the house was inspected. She lied about the house having Knob and Tube wiring, she checked "no", and the inspector clearly pointed out the knob and tube to me in the basment while doing the inspection. (the seller had a relative that was a licsensed electrician, that had done electrical work on the house previoulsy, so she knew that there was knob and tube in the house) Is there any recourse we have to holding the seller resposible for the roof still leaking? I'm too the point I'm fed up with this house already. We almost couldn't get financing on the house, because it had Knob and Tube, and our insurance company wasn't going to insure the house, unless the wiring was updated. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Well at least you got a nice tupperware container, I think I got an old cat litter box from a similarly scheming seller. If this roof was replaced a few months ago CALL THE ROOFER.
I can't imagine why the seller did not have the roofer out asap to fix the problem. I wonder if this roofer is even licensed. I think I might just have another roofer come out and take a look at the work.

Document with photos the leak (and the tupperware).

If the leak is not promptly and satisfactorily repaired, present an estimate from another roofer for the repair to the seller. No luck----> hello small claims court.

Chas

[NYyankees305]

Originally Posted by Charles11

Well at least you got a nice tupperware container, I think I got an old cat litter box from a similarly scheming seller. If this roof was replaced a few months ago CALL THE ROOFER.
I can't imagine why the seller did not have the roofer out asap to fix the problem. I wonder if this roofer is even licensed. I think I might just have another roofer come out and take a look at the work.

Document with photos the leak (and the tupperware).

If the leak is not promptly and satisfactorily repaired, present an estimate from another roofer for the repair to the seller. No luck----> hello small claims court.

Chas

Thanks Chas

Our Realtor did get a hold of the seller's Realtor to find out which roofing company replaced the roof. I believe they are a legit roofing company, whether or not their work is up to par that's another story. The seller was supposedly upset when she found out the roof was still leaking, that's what my Realtor told me. I highly doubt it because she knew it was still leaking.
Can I hold the seller's Reality Company (or her Realtor) liable to for misrepresting the house? Shouldn't her Realtor have walked through the house to make sure what the seller was disclosing on her disclosure to be true? It's not a huge leak right now, but without it being fixed, it will cause a lot more problems down the road, like rotting wood in the crawl space, mold in the ceiling etc, etc. I know with the time of year it is now, roofing companies are extrememly busy, so I know trying to get one out here to look at the roof , could take weeks, or even a month. We don't want to do anything ourselves to try to fix the leak, because when the roofing company comes out to look at the leak, they can say they didn't find a leak, or since we fixed it ourselves, they aren't liable for making any repairs.

[Charles11]

Originally Posted by NYyankees305

Thanks Chas
Our Realtor did get a hold of the seller's Realtor to find out which roofing company replaced the roof. I believe they are a legit roofing company, whether or not their work is up to par that's another story. The seller was supposedly upset when she found out the roof was still leaking, that's what my Realtor told me. I highly doubt it because she knew it was still leaking.

Originally Posted by NYyankees305

Can I hold the seller's Reality Company (or her Realtor) liable to for misrepresting the house?

The representations made in the disclosure form are the seller's, NOT the agents.

Originally Posted by NYyankees305

Shouldn't her Realtor have walked through the house to make sure what the seller was disclosing on her disclosure to be true?

Not in my opinion. That is what inspectors are for. Agents are not qualified to perform professional physical evaluations of the property. Now with that said, if the agent knew there was a falsehood on the disclosure and you could prove it that might be a different story. I doubt that was the case.

Originally Posted by NYyankees305

It's not a huge leak right now, but without it being fixed, it will cause a lot more problems down the road, like rotting wood in the crawl space, mold in the ceiling etc, etc. I know with the time of year it is now, roofing companies are extrememly busy, so I know trying to get one out here to look at the roof , could take weeks, or even a month. We don't want to do anything ourselves to try to fix the leak, because when the roofing company comes out to look at the leak, they can say they didn't find a leak, or since we fixed it ourselves, they aren't liable for making any repairs.

Usually water causes big problems over a fairly extended period however now is certainly the time to get things fixed. The roofer must have a minimum of 1-5 year warranty so they should not be charging anything. I suspect it could well be a flashing type of problem with the roof only a few months old and it probably should not take too long to fix.
Even though this seller seems a bit flakey they would have a reasonable expectation that if they put on a new roof it would not be leaking a couple months later!! But the tupperware perhaps inidicates otherwise.

Be the sqeaky wheel. Have the seller or their agent call the roofer since they were "upset" about it. Give em a week or so to at least show up to take a look, otherwise you start calling. Give the roofer a few weeks to actually come and perform the needed repair.

Good Luck...

[NYyankees305]

Well, come to find out, the contractor that did the roof, said he did not replace the whole roof, just part of it, the part of the roof that is leaking, isn't the part that he fixed. The seller lied and said the whole roof was preplaced in March of this year. The contractor came out last week to look at the roof, and said the company that fixed the back part of the roof, didn't seal the step flashing correctly. (the contractor said the back part of the roof is at least a year old, but his company isn't the one that replaced the back part of the roof) The roofer sealed the flashing, but come last Thursday when it rained again, the roof started leaking again, my husband had to go out on the roof in the pouring rain and try to patch the area where he thought the water was coming in, he thought he got it, but over the weekend we were away, and it rained again pretty good, and we come back, and the ceiling tile in the bathroom is now soaked and damaged, the roof leaked again over the weekend. I called my realtor told him what was going on, he called the seller's realtor last week when the contractor came out, and the seller's realtor isn't returning any of the calls. I contacted a Real Estate lawyer (they did the closing on the house for us as well) and he advised me to get an estimate from the contractor on what it would cost to replace the back part of the roof, and to get an estimate on the damage done to our bathroom ceiling, present it to the seller, and if she refuses to pay for the damages, he said we can take her to small claims court, if the amount isn't over a certain dollar amount. He said, the seller said the roof was replaced in March of 05, she didnt' say only part of it was replaced, he said so it was safe for you to assume that that whole roof was replaced at that time, he said the seller misrepresented the house.

[Charles11]

I contacted a Real Estate lawyer (they did the closing on the house for us as well) and he advised me to get an estimate from the contractor on what it would cost to replace the back part of the roof, and to get an estimate on the damage done to our bathroom ceiling, present it to the seller, and if she refuses to pay for the damages, he said we can take her to small claims court, if the amount isn't over a certain dollar amount. He said, the seller said the roof was replaced in March of 05, she didnt' say only part of it was replaced, he said so it was safe for you to assume that that whole roof was replaced at that time, he said the seller misrepresented the house.

I wholeheartedly agree. I thought there was something fishy. Follow the attorney's advice but you may want to get two estimates if you end up going to small claims...

Chas