Failure to Disclose - Do I have a case?

[mccowansmith]

What is the name of your state? KY

I bought my house in October of last year after a huge summer drought. In November, we had a pretty good rain and I realized that we had a leak coming out of the top of my bedroom window. Being that it was four and a half years old, I contacted the builder who happily came out to fix the problem. The leaking persisted throughout the month and by the time the builder came out again, it was too cold to do tests to see what would work/what wouldn't. They gave me a string of ideas as to why it would leak. The house came with window dressing, but when we pulled it back we easily saw that there was water damage (chipped paint/poor-looking wood, and the window was separating from the frame). We had it inspected before purchase, so we assumed all was well.

After a fairly dry winter, spring has brought more rain and the leak has returned with reinforcements. Basically a steady stream. I contacted my realtor because I'm pretty upset by now. Today she called and told me that the house's windows had been damaged by a tornado and replaced in 2004. This was definitely not disclosed by the seller. The house was unoccupied by the seller for 9 months as he was simply an owner and not a resident.

Here's the kicker: We bought our house from Contractor A. He received it as a trade in January 2007 for one of his houses from Seller B. Both Contractor A and Seller B were friends before the sale (he told us at our closure and our neighbors confirmed the same). On the disclosure, Seller B and Contractor A marked "don't know" on most of the items and did NOT stated anything about a tornado. Does this seem like shady business or is it just me?

Do I have a leg to stand on regarding disclosure? I'm assuming the friend (Contractor A) knew about the tornado and damage. What I'm even more angry about is that neither the realtor NOR the inspector said anything about the tornado hitting the neighborhood.

What do I do next? Get a lawyer? Call the seller?

Im sorry,

I personally do not think you have a case. Especially since it's been so long.
This is why no one else except for the buyer can choose their own property inspectors. All inspections done were at the buyers discretion. If the tornado caused that damage, there should have been visible evidence recorded by the inspector.

You would be opening a can of worms by investigating who were friends and who weren't friends at the time of sale if you think it was "shady".

You'll spend more time and money fighting it then you will fixing the problem.

But Good Luck!
Ryan

[dmiller12]

I disagree with RealtorRyan. I think you should be suing the agent, the contractor, the previous homeowner, the home inspector and the inspectors dog.