arbitration with home inspection company due to leaking roof

[j_vani]

Marietta,GA

Hi,
We hired a home inspector in march 2004 to inspect a 24 year old house that we were planning to buy.My husband noticed several water stains on the inside of the roof in the living and dining rooms and window frames [It is a cedar wood house].He showed the home inspector those stains and asked him whether there could be any potential leaks.The home inspector looked at it and said that everything in that house looks fine.Then we bought that house in june 2004 and moved in august 2004.In september ,we started noticing several leaks [all leaks were in the same places where my husband pointed out to the home inspector].We didn't know what to do. then we called the previous owner from whom we purchased the house.he bluntly said your home inspector only certified that everything is fine. so it is not my problem.Then we called the home inspector several times and finally he agreed to come and revisit the house.He came and said that he is not responsible for this issue as he need not get on the roof as part of the home inspection.This is costing several thousands for us to redo the roof as all the roofers said that already several patches have been done on that roof.Now that we started approaching the company for which this homeinspector works,they are turning down our request saying that it is 14 months now since the inspection is done and they guarantee only for 12 months after inspection. Can you suggest what we do now.

Thanks
regards,
Vani.

 

[djohnson]

Pay for having it fixed or let it continue to leak. If it was leaking when purchased and your husband had questions, he should have checked further. You purchased anyway. You had 12 months to follow up if there were any problems. Either there wasn't any during that time, or you failed to act timely enough.