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10-18-2005, 04:24 PM
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 13
| | | Undisclosed leak & termite damage
What is the name of your state? CA
Closed in early September on a townhouse, followed by three weeks of rent-back. While cleaning out the garage once the sellers moved out, found a palm-sized hole in the ceiling drywall in the corner of the garage, surrounded by water and mildew stains and termite droppings. Hole hidden behind a cabinet and in an area that was inaccessible to home & termite inspectors due to owner's personal belongings. (Piled very high in that particular corner-- the entire garage was packed full, so it didn't seem particularly suspicious).
Recent rain resolved the question of whether there's an active leak-- a pool of water accumulated in that corner and the ceiling & cabinet walls are quite damp.
Given the amount of rain SoCal had last year, it seems very improbable that the sellers were unaware of the issue; their belongings must have been quite soaked (they claim there's never been any leaks in the garage in the 4 years that they've lived there). On the other hand, proving that they withheld disclosure seems difficult. There's some evidence that that corner of the garage ceiling was re-painted, but the stain reappeared.
Any suggestions are much appreciated. We've learned our lesson to inspect every friggin' square inch... |
10-18-2005, 05:25 PM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Catatonic State
Posts: 75,781
| | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Drinker Nisti What is the name of your state? CA
Closed in early September on a townhouse, followed by three weeks of rent-back. While cleaning out the garage once the sellers moved out, found a palm-sized hole in the ceiling drywall in the corner of the garage, surrounded by water and mildew stains and termite droppings. Hole hidden behind a cabinet and in an area that was inaccessible to home & termite inspectors due to owner's personal belongings. (Piled very high in that particular corner-- the entire garage was packed full, so it didn't seem particularly suspicious).
Recent rain resolved the question of whether there's an active leak-- a pool of water accumulated in that corner and the ceiling & cabinet walls are quite damp.
Given the amount of rain SoCal had last year, it seems very improbable that the sellers were unaware of the issue; their belongings must have been quite soaked (they claim there's never been any leaks in the garage in the 4 years that they've lived there). On the other hand, proving that they withheld disclosure seems difficult. There's some evidence that that corner of the garage ceiling was re-painted, but the stain reappeared.
Any suggestions are much appreciated. We've learned our lesson to inspect every friggin' square inch... |
**A: if the leak is due to the roof, why did the inspector not report the roof condition that caused such a leak? |
10-18-2005, 05:41 PM
| | Member | | Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 161
| | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Drinker Nisti What is the name of your state? CA
Closed in early September on a townhouse, followed by three weeks of rent-back. While cleaning out the garage once the sellers moved out, found a palm-sized hole in the ceiling drywall in the corner of the garage, surrounded by water and mildew stains and termite droppings. Hole hidden behind a cabinet and in an area that was inaccessible to home & termite inspectors due to owner's personal belongings. (Piled very high in that particular corner-- the entire garage was packed full, so it didn't seem particularly suspicious).
Recent rain resolved the question of whether there's an active leak-- a pool of water accumulated in that corner and the ceiling & cabinet walls are quite damp.
Given the amount of rain SoCal had last year, it seems very improbable that the sellers were unaware of the issue; their belongings must have been quite soaked (they claim there's never been any leaks in the garage in the 4 years that they've lived there). On the other hand, proving that they withheld disclosure seems difficult. There's some evidence that that corner of the garage ceiling was re-painted, but the stain reappeared.
Any suggestions are much appreciated. We've learned our lesson to inspect every friggin' square inch... |
Also, it is up to you to request the sellers to remove their belongings in order for your inspector to properly inspect. The inspector would have noted on their report that they could not access certain areas due to personal belongings being in the way. At that point you needed to decide if you wanted to accept the inspection report (which it sounds like you did) or ask the sellers to move their stuff. |
10-18-2005, 05:55 PM
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 13
| | | Home Guru: There's a sundeck above the garage, which was inspected. The leak appears to be below one of the drainage points on the deck. The deck and its drains look fine from above.
CAlandlord: Point taken & lesson learned. The reports did mention the lack of accessibility. It's hard to get beyond the desire to blame somebody, but we're piling plenty of blame on ourselves too... |
10-18-2005, 09:18 PM
| | Member | | Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 363
| | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Drinker Nisti Home Guru: There's a sundeck above the garage, which was inspected. The leak appears to be below one of the drainage points on the deck. The deck and its drains look fine from above.
CAlandlord: Point taken & lesson learned. The reports did mention the lack of accessibility. It's hard to get beyond the desire to blame somebody, but we're piling plenty of blame on ourselves too... | If the sellers knew about the hole, they had a duty to tell you about it. |
10-19-2005, 11:18 AM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Catatonic State
Posts: 75,781
| | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Ciarraine If the sellers knew about the hole, they had a duty to tell you about it. |
**A: and the Seller's should have known about the hole when they moved their crap out upon vacating the property. |
10-20-2005, 05:07 PM
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 13
| | | An update:
The sellers _must_ have known about the leak, but legally proving that they did might be tricky.
That said, our agent thinks we have a pretty good case to push back on the sellers some more. The hole is right at the firewall, and the sellers previously agreed during escrow to repair all breeches in the firewall. Mostly we just want to get this taken care of and move on... |
10-20-2005, 05:10 PM
| | Member | | Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 161
| | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Drinker Nisti An update:
The sellers _must_ have known about the leak, but legally proving that they did might be tricky.
That said, our agent thinks we have a pretty good case to push back on the sellers some more. The hole is right at the firewall, and the sellers previously agreed during escrow to repair all breeches in the firewall. Mostly we just want to get this taken care of and move on... | Excellent! I'm glad to hear that. |
10-21-2005, 11:00 AM
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: May 2000 Location: Catatonic State
Posts: 75,781
| | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Drinker Nisti An update:
The sellers _must_ have known about the leak, but legally proving that they did might be tricky.
That said, our agent thinks we have a pretty good case to push back on the sellers some more. The hole is right at the firewall, and the sellers previously agreed during escrow to repair all breeches in the firewall. Mostly we just want to get this taken care of and move on... |
**A: hire your own firewall contractor to do the repair and then go after the Seller. | |
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