on the seller's property disclosure statement we checked the yes box to if there were pets in the house during our ownership, and then hand wrote in 2 dogs and 2 cats. the dogs are small, a yorkshire terrior and cocker spaniel, and at the time of the sale there was only one cat that had never been outside, and always used the liter box. when my husband spoke to the buyers on the phone just prior to the closing he was telling them about small things that he knew that we would have in the near future fixed but had not such as a cap on the chimney, we did not use the chimney but they planned to. the buyer at that time said don't have the carpetings throughout the house professionally cleaned because they had already purchased the carpeting. when they removed the carpeting the day after closing that is when they saw that the floors under the carpeting were "ruined" due to pet urine. i cleaned the carpeting with a home carpet machine. the pets had few accidents, only if we were out of the house for a little too long, but not every day. they claim that in my sons room the carpeting in the closet underneath was so saturated with pet urine that it had soaked through the wall and was up the insulation. my dogs never went in a closet, mainly because my sons usually had so much stuff at the bottom of their closets no one dared to venture inside. it was their stuff. the buyers made out a list of items to be repaired or were repaired by them, and the list has the heading - items were not in this condition when we saw the house originally before negotiating any sales price. from the time that they looked at the house, and that was only once, it was almost a month until closing. we moved out quick for them. examples of items on this list: damaged carpet/hardwood floors $800.00. animal urine damage paneling and insulation $400.00 - supplies for odor removal cleaning $200.00 - cleaning labor $350.00. garbage removal (old carpeting) $360.00 for a dumpster- animal damage under removed carpeting in basement floor had to be sealed $500.00 - house could not be lived in until odor was gone , rent one month $700.00 and it goes on. the buyers originally when they were negotiating the sale price of the house wanted a special clause added that we would do any necessary repairs with no cap on the price, and we would not agree to this, because they had come down so far on the selling price. they went in for a final inspection just prior to the closing when the hosue was empty and the buyers said at the closing that they had done the inspection, now they are claiming that they could not get into the house to inspect it because the doors were locked, my son who had just been in the house was at the neighbors and saw them go in. this is a mess, i hate people like this. if i was really dishonest i would feel terrible, but how would anyone know what is under the carpeting. also just to assure you that i am a very clean housekeeper, we entertained quite frequently in the family room in the basement of the house and no one ever mentioned about pet smell, and they would have. others that had looked at the house never once said about pet smell, also one last thing, my husband has asthma so bad that at 48 years old he is on a disability, and i wonder how he could have been in the family room everyday for years, and not have some kind of asthma reaction if there was pet urine under the carpeting, it would have had mildew, and there would have been a lot of dampness. help!
***I agree, pet odor is obnoxious. If there was that much damage someone with asthma would not be able to live there. I have asthma and I cannot even go into some houses because of the pet urine smell. It hits you when you walk in the door. I think if that were the case, the buyers should have been obligated to do their due diligence by pulling up the carpet during their inspection, just to see how bad it really was. It sounds like they are trying to pull a fast one. Get all the documentation and photos you can and also ask to see the damage if its not too late. I mean the smell alone should have inidicated that the buyer perform his due diligence and could have written into the contract that the buyer is entitled to pull up the carpet to see if there is any damage to the floor due to the pet odor. I would have advised this if this were my buyer and the pet odor was overpowering.***
** also this might not mean anything but the listing contract - exclusive right to sell real property that we signed with the real estate place ended on 10/22/02, they sold the house on 5/1/03, and the real estate people made more money off the selling commision than we made on the sale of the house.
