| major sewage problem = major headache.
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Missouri
I bought a Brand New house in april, and before we moved in we found a few problems (mainly pipes that were not connected properly, one almost fried the electric water heater as it was above the water heater). The owner sent over a plumber and fixed the problems, however after we fully moved into the house we found out the Sewage was backed up. I called the owner and he told me he would call a plumber (He was not going to provide the plumber this time). I hired a plumber to come out and he used a Mechanical rotary snake, however after getting far enough to be underneath the street, he could not go any further, we estimated the problem was about 1/3 the way into the street, maybe 10-15 feet short of the main.
This problem was not disclosed to me, and when I contacted the seller he told me tough luck, stuff like this happens. He had bought the house partially unfinished (mainly the inside stuff, drywall etc.) from another investor (the guy who originally built the house, and had the sewage installed etc.), so he said he had no idea about the problem, and therefore he isn't responsible for it. My buyers agent told me even with a USED house the seller would be responsible, and that the seller should very well be responsible, however he told me if the seller wouldn't fix it, I would probably have to take him to small claims court after fixing it myself.
I did some further investigation by going o the city, as the sewage line instillation is inspected to insure that it is done properly. I was able to talk to the city engineer, as well as the lady who inspected the installation of my sewer line shortly after. They both told me that the sub-contractor (who they have still been unable to name, don't they have to check credentials for these people and keep it stored?) hooked up to the old sewage line. I then asked them how old the line was and where it had come from (the lot that my house is on had been empty prior to construction). They told me they DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE LINE HAD COME FROM! The city engineer even told me that that old line MAY NO EVEN BE HOOKED UP TO THE SEWER MAIN, because its so old! It blows my mind that they let a subcontractor hook up to a line they had no information on!. As far as anyone knew in the office that day, that line could be going into the dirt, into the ground water, who knows. That's the response I got from the city. Thinking it might be a fluke, a month or so ago my father also went to the city for me, and was basically told the exact same thing. A few days after I had met with the engineer I got an email back explaining that the House that the old line had likely been hooked up to, was torn down in the 1960's. That means the house was probably very old, and that sewer line had probably been under the ground since the 1920'-1930's (when the main was put in at that part of town).
In my opinion the city is partially responsible for my troubles as well, if they allow a subcontractor to hook up to an OLD sewer line they should at least verify it is a working line to the main before they allow them to do that, otherwise they should have made the sub-contractor run a brand new line to the main. However I also feel the previous owner to finished the construction should be responsible for making sure all the important things are working before he can be allowed to sell a NEW house. I've also had tons of relatives and business associates tell me that Missouri has a state law that requires builders provide a one to two year warranty on ALL New houses, however the seller is telling me that I have no warranty.
Any advice? Who is responsible and what should I do, we are currently not living in the house, however I have a tenant moving in a few weeks, so I need to get this taken care of. When I lived there the sewage was running in the yard out of the escape pipe, the City knew this from day 1 and never did anything about it, because I think they feel responsible and didn't want me to press the issue. Although I have been very busy with the new job etc. I still should have taken care of this earlier, however I always felt it was 100% not my responsibility so I have let it sit.
Thanks for any responses. | 
09-25-2008, 01:30 PM
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