Form 17 Disclosure given by seller not by Agent

[amillan38]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA

My husband and I bought our first house through FHA loan in late August last year. I meticuously read every page that was placed in front of us for our loan. We bought a house that had remodeling done and a large partially finished basement with a master bedroom and half bath downstairs. When we had our inspection we noticed there was some staining on the baseboards in the new bathroom and a sump pump in the garage. We asked our agent and our inspector about these things, and the agent said the house had a pipe break that had flooded part of the basement. The inspector told us that some of the older houses in Tacoma have sump systems under them becuase there are a lot of springs in the area. We went ahead through our closing and moved in the end of August.

Well last week, we woke up to major flooding in our backyard. Thinking the storm drain systems were plugged we called the city only to be told that there is no storm drain system in our alley where our backyard, driveway and garage are. Then by midmorning our toilet started overflowing and we had sewage all over the place. We were told by the city that we might be able to file a claim with the city if there had never been a backflow valve letter sent to the home at any time (didn't matter if we didn't live there). So I started going back through all of our paperwork looking for the disclosure form from the original owner. Only to find I had part of the form but not the complete form 17 showing all the details the original owners listed.

I got a hold of the realtor's office and the realtor is no longer with them, but they sent me the complete form and I spoke with the broker letting her know we had never seen the completed disclosure. We found out in the disclosure that the house remodeling had not been done with permits or inspected and that the basement had flooded before.

We are wondering if we have a case against the realtor as she made such a big deal about having us initial all the other pages that we did, but not those pages. Her broker said they do not require initials on those pages. I checked with my mortgage broker and she wasn't sure if the bathroom downstairs not being properly permitted/inspected would have been a red flag to FHA, but they made sure that some wires in the attic were fixed, holes in the garage ceiling were fixed, and an outside oil tank was filled and capped before they signed off on the loan. Do we have any recourse in this situation? )?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by amillan38

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WA

My husband and I bought our first house through FHA loan in late August last year. I meticuously read every page that was placed in front of us for our loan. We bought a house that had remodeling done and a large partially finished basement with a master bedroom and half bath downstairs. When we had our inspection we noticed there was some staining on the baseboards in the new bathroom and a sump pump in the garage. We asked our agent and our inspector about these things, and the agent said the house had a pipe break that had flooded part of the basement. The inspector told us that some of the older houses in Tacoma have sump systems under them becuase there are a lot of springs in the area. We went ahead through our closing and moved in the end of August.

Well last week, we woke up to major flooding in our backyard. Thinking the storm drain systems were plugged we called the city only to be told that there is no storm drain system in our alley where our backyard, driveway and garage are. Then by midmorning our toilet started overflowing and we had sewage all over the place. We were told by the city that we might be able to file a claim with the city if there had never been a backflow valve letter sent to the home at any time (didn't matter if we didn't live there). So I started going back through all of our paperwork looking for the disclosure form from the original owner. Only to find I had part of the form but not the complete form 17 showing all the details the original owners listed.

I got a hold of the realtor's office and the realtor is no longer with them, but they sent me the complete form and I spoke with the broker letting her know we had never seen the completed disclosure. We found out in the disclosure that the house remodeling had not been done with permits or inspected and that the basement had flooded before.

We are wondering if we have a case against the realtor as she made such a big deal about having us initial all the other pages that we did, but not those pages. Her broker said they do not require initials on those pages. I checked with my mortgage broker and she wasn't sure if the bathroom downstairs not being properly permitted/inspected would have been a red flag to FHA, but they made sure that some wires in the attic were fixed, holes in the garage ceiling were fixed, and an outside oil tank was filled and capped before they signed off on the loan. Do we have any recourse in this situation? )?

**A: it appears that you have a claim against both your agent and his/her principal broker.