Flooding Basement-please help

[zoenut]

We bought a 32 year old house in PA, 4/00 from my former boss. (never buy from someone you know). We allowed the sellers to stay until their home was built and we moved in 10/00. 11/00 our basement flooded w/ about 3-4 inches of water and destroying many personal items that we had stored there. We have video tape of the damage. There is no sump pump in the basement. We discussed numerous times w/ the sellers about basement flooding and they said they had had "slight dampness" and no flooding. The home inspector stated there may have been some water damage in the past -hard to tell-and this family had been there about 6 years. We spoke w/ a neighbor who states that they saw them "pump out their basement" on at least one occassion.
It has had numerous occurances since-about 1-2 inches every time it rains for a few hours.
We want to get a sump pump installed (approximately $3,000-$4,000). Would we be able to get them to pay/assist in paying for this? What would be the best place to start and when does
our time limit run out on doing anything?

 

[HomeGuru]

faithandhope please respond.

 

[zoenut]

I appreciate the assistance, but I have been waiting for faithandhope to respond since 3/6. I am currently having contractors come to give estimates and they stated that they would testify in court that this was a pre-existing condition.
Can we go ahead and fix the problem and then try to get reimbursed?
Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[HomeGuru]

Yes and make sure that you take photos and document all the problems.