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Roof still leaks after closin

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fokus83

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

I apologize in advance for the length of this post... :)

My wife and I recently purchased a home. During our first showing - we noticed an area of the ceiling right inside our side entrance. It appears that the leak was coming from the valley in the roof where our garage was attached to the house. We had wrote an offer, then submitted an amendment stating that we wanted the leak repaired. In exchange, we would waive our right to an inspection (we had several reasons for waiving this right). The owner, who was also the realtor who listed the house, agreed and signed the amendment. This was done approximately two weeks prior to closing.

My wife and I routinely drove by our soon to be new home and found that the night before closing... well after sunset - a roofer was making repairs to the roof in the general area that the leak was located. We did a final walk through about one hour before closing withour realtor who had been told that the repairs had been completed. The drywall on the ceiling was not repaired because we did not ask them to do so.

Exactly one week after closing - we received our first rainfall since the roof was supposedly repaired and found that there was still a substantial leak coming from the exact location where we had originally noted it. After one hour of moderate rainfall - almost 1/4 of a 13 gallon garbage can was filled with water. We immediately contacted our realtor who contacted the selling realtor. The selling realtor promptly contacted the roofer that had originally worked on the house. The roofer came out and found the leak. He said that he had not been able to find the origin of the leak when he came out the first time. He stated that the seller had stated what he believed had caused the leak and asked the roofer to place a metal fascia on the roof to take care of what he thought the problem was. The roofer stated that since he had done work for the seller before and that since he was the customer - he obliged his request. He indicated that he did not have the opportunity to validate the efficiency of the repairs.

He provided two options to us. One would involve placing a metal sheet over the leaking roof and shingle over it. The roofer said that this would be the cheapest option, and would repair the roof for about 10 years. The other option would involve ripping out and replacing the rotted plywood on the roof which would cost several hundred dollars more. I told the roofer that my wife and I respect the fact that the seller has sold the house and that it would be unreasonable for us to ask them to incur large additional expenses. I stated that the first option would be satisfactory to us.

The roofer agreed to contact the seller and let us know the outcome of the conversation. After three weeks - and several voicemails later - we finally heard back from the roofer. He said that the seller had indicated that he did not like either option and only wanted to have the roofer come out and "put tar on the roof". The roofer told us that this would be ugly and only patch the leak for a year at the most.

I decided to email the seller directly. They sought cousel from their agency's legal counsel and stated:

""Your agent wrote up an amendment to the offer to purchase requesting we have leak repaired on corner of back door, and buyer to waive inspection contingency.

We contacted our roofer who is a qualified insured roofer and he informed us before closing it was repaired. He was paid by us and the transaction closed on <date deleted>.

In your original offer to purchase you signed an addendum A. lines 91-101 state that the property is to be to your (buyer) approval and the seller is not the expert of any third party statements,disclosures or representations. <roofers name deleted> assured us it was fixed and the transaction was closed.

<realtors agency's name deleted> fixed the requested repair in your Amendment and we sold the property in good faith and satisfied all of your requests per the offer. Therefore, we are not responsible for the roof beyond the repair that we had fixed per the offer.""

I do not agree with their statement... who do you feel is right?
 



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