Water Damage

What is the name of your state? Virginia

We just purchased a home in May of this year. We have just been informed that the insurance company is cancelling our Homeowners Insurance due to the property. When we called to find out the reason we were told that they had looked into the property further they found that there was $12,000, in water damage to the house 5 years ago. We were not told of this before or at closing. Also, because our insurance is being cancelled on the 23rd of this month, our mortgage will be going into default as the insurance is a requirement set by the lender. What can we do and what recourse do we have?

[FarmerJ]

Does Your state offer a `state pool ` where you are assigned a ins company ?If your state has such a thing atleast for now it will allow you to get a binder in place and get you more time to hunt for a new policy . A Insurance agent could tell you if there is a state plan .

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by upsetowner
What is the name of your state? Virginia

We just purchased a home in May of this year. We have just been informed that the insurance company is cancelling our Homeowners Insurance due to the property. When we called to find out the reason we were told that they had looked into the property further they found that there was $12,000, in water damage to the house 5 years ago. We were not told of this before or at closing. Also, because our insurance is being cancelled on the 23rd of this month, our mortgage will be going into default as the insurance is a requirement set by the lender. What can we do and what recourse do we have?

**A: in your area, there are numerous insurance companies that offer homeowners insurance. Start talking to them. Worse case scenario would be to ask the lender to force place coverage (at a high cost) until you get the matter resolved.
Hire an attorney and sue the Seller for nondisclosure of a material fact especially if the water damage was not repaired.

Thank you very much. The water damage was repaired, however I feel that this should have been disclosed before the sale, especially being that we are now having issues with insurance companies and I feel will now lower the property value as we will have to disclose to any potential buyers when we are ready to sell. Is there still grounds for suit even though the damage seems to have been repaired?

[HomeGuru]

You have to prove that the Seller knew or should have known about the water damage. Consult a real estate attorney that specializes in seller disclosure litigation.