M
mbc122
Guest
What is the name of your state? OR
Only days after closing on our house, our new next-door neighbor approached me and “warned” me that there might be water damage in the kitchen (we hadn’t yet moved in). She told me that she knew there had been water damage in the kitchen in the past and that the seller’s son (the seller was an elderly woman) had come in and laid new vinyl tile over the old water-stained vinyl flooring. I immediately went inside and pulled out the dishwasher to find the kitchen floor soaked and rotten. The seller and her son claim having no knowledge of the problem, yet the new vinyl on the kitchen floor was just about the only “improvement” made to the house before selling. The seller claims that the previous water damage that the neighbor eluded to was due to a one-time dishwasher leak that was fixed years ago (apparently a claim was filed). This event was not disclosed to us, either. We did have a home inspection, of course, which obviously didn’t uncover the leaky dishwasher and the associated damage (it was almost impossible to see with the new vinyl tile floor). I have pursued this on my own for the last four months. The seller submitted our $1600 repair bill to her insurance company. They covered the expenses minus the seller’s deductible of $1000. The seller has since refused to pay the deductible. Who, ultimately, is responsible for paying for these repairs? Doesn’t the seller’s insurance company’s coverage somehow acknowledge the seller’s responsibility? Do we have a legal basis for seeking the remaining $1000?
Only days after closing on our house, our new next-door neighbor approached me and “warned” me that there might be water damage in the kitchen (we hadn’t yet moved in). She told me that she knew there had been water damage in the kitchen in the past and that the seller’s son (the seller was an elderly woman) had come in and laid new vinyl tile over the old water-stained vinyl flooring. I immediately went inside and pulled out the dishwasher to find the kitchen floor soaked and rotten. The seller and her son claim having no knowledge of the problem, yet the new vinyl on the kitchen floor was just about the only “improvement” made to the house before selling. The seller claims that the previous water damage that the neighbor eluded to was due to a one-time dishwasher leak that was fixed years ago (apparently a claim was filed). This event was not disclosed to us, either. We did have a home inspection, of course, which obviously didn’t uncover the leaky dishwasher and the associated damage (it was almost impossible to see with the new vinyl tile floor). I have pursued this on my own for the last four months. The seller submitted our $1600 repair bill to her insurance company. They covered the expenses minus the seller’s deductible of $1000. The seller has since refused to pay the deductible. Who, ultimately, is responsible for paying for these repairs? Doesn’t the seller’s insurance company’s coverage somehow acknowledge the seller’s responsibility? Do we have a legal basis for seeking the remaining $1000?