undisclosed storm drain statuate of limitations?

[upacreek]

What is the name of your state? California

I posted before, but the thread is gone. I have a question as to whether there is any statuate of limitations in this issue. I purchased my home almost 8 years ago. Earlier this year, there was a very big storm, resulting in some minor flooding in my neighborhood. It was then brought to my attention by my neighbor that I have a private storm drain under my property, as do others on my street. I was never informed of this when I purchased my home. I spoke with an employee in the building department who looked into my building files. He said that according to the disclosure forms in my file, that the previous owner never disclosed to me that I had a private storm drainage on my property, although she had recieved in writing the disclosure of the storm drain from the City when she origionally purchased the home, and she signed off on the report . Additionally, the home inspection report issued by the City inspector wrongfully stated in my report that there WASN'T a storm drain, where in fact there is.

I now find that not only do I have a storm drain under my property that I was never informed of, but that I am completely responsible for it's maintenence, as well as responsible for any damages resulting from the failure of this storm drain. According to the file, a small portion of the storm drain was repaired more than 25 years ago, and the remainder was left as is, and will most likely soon fail. A very initial rough estimate is that the replacement of the drain will be in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. In addition to these initial expenses to replace the old storm drain, I believe that the existence of this storm drain and it's asssociated liabilities will significantly decrease the value of my home, which I paid top dollar for. Had I known about the storm drain, I would have never purchased my house in the first place.

I am now planning to go after the origional seller for replacement of the old storm drain, and I think it's only fair that I'm compensated for the decrease in property value that this storm drain creates. Is there a statuate of limitations, given that I only discoved the presense of the storm drain a couple of months ago?What is the name of your state?

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by upacreek

What is the name of your state? California

I posted before, but the thread is gone. I have a question as to whether there is any statuate of limitations in this issue. I purchased my home almost 8 years ago. Earlier this year, there was a very big storm, resulting in some minor flooding in my neighborhood. It was then brought to my attention by my neighbor that I have a private storm drain under my property, as do others on my street. I was never informed of this when I purchased my home. I spoke with an employee in the building department who looked into my building files. He said that according to the disclosure forms in my file, that the previous owner never disclosed to me that I had a private storm drainage on my property, although she had recieved in writing the disclosure of the storm drain from the City when she origionally purchased the home, and she signed off on the report . Additionally, the home inspection report issued by the City inspector wrongfully stated in my report that there WASN'T a storm drain, where in fact there is.

I now find that not only do I have a storm drain under my property that I was never informed of, but that I am completely responsible for it's maintenence, as well as responsible for any damages resulting from the failure of this storm drain. According to the file, a small portion of the storm drain was repaired more than 25 years ago, and the remainder was left as is, and will most likely soon fail. A very initial rough estimate is that the replacement of the drain will be in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. In addition to these initial expenses to replace the old storm drain, I believe that the existence of this storm drain and it's asssociated liabilities will significantly decrease the value of my home, which I paid top dollar for. Had I known about the storm drain, I would have never purchased my house in the first place.

I am now planning to go after the origional seller for replacement of the old storm drain, and I think it's only fair that I'm compensated for the decrease in property value that this storm drain creates. Is there a statuate of limitations, given that I only discoved the presense of the storm drain a couple of months ago?What is the name of your state?

duplicate post

[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=311880[/url]

[divgradcurl]

Originally Posted by upacreek

What is the name of your state? California

I posted before, but the thread is gone. I have a question as to whether there is any statuate of limitations in this issue. I purchased my home almost 8 years ago. Earlier this year, there was a very big storm, resulting in some minor flooding in my neighborhood. It was then brought to my attention by my neighbor that I have a private storm drain under my property, as do others on my street. I was never informed of this when I purchased my home. I spoke with an employee in the building department who looked into my building files. He said that according to the disclosure forms in my file, that the previous owner never disclosed to me that I had a private storm drainage on my property, although she had recieved in writing the disclosure of the storm drain from the City when she origionally purchased the home, and she signed off on the report . Additionally, the home inspection report issued by the City inspector wrongfully stated in my report that there WASN'T a storm drain, where in fact there is.

I now find that not only do I have a storm drain under my property that I was never informed of, but that I am completely responsible for it's maintenence, as well as responsible for any damages resulting from the failure of this storm drain. According to the file, a small portion of the storm drain was repaired more than 25 years ago, and the remainder was left as is, and will most likely soon fail. A very initial rough estimate is that the replacement of the drain will be in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. In addition to these initial expenses to replace the old storm drain, I believe that the existence of this storm drain and it's asssociated liabilities will significantly decrease the value of my home, which I paid top dollar for. Had I known about the storm drain, I would have never purchased my house in the first place.

I am now planning to go after the origional seller for replacement of the old storm drain, and I think it's only fair that I'm compensated for the decrease in property value that this storm drain creates. Is there a statuate of limitations, given that I only discoved the presense of the storm drain a couple of months ago?What is the name of your state?

Statute of limitations in this case will most likely be 4 years. See Cal. C. Civ. Proc. Section 343. However, remember that the SOL generally runs from the time when you knew, or reasonably should have known, about the issue. If you had inspections that didn't show the drain, and no disclosure of the drain in the disclosure documents, then it's possible that you would not have reasonably known about the drain until now, so the SOL may not have began to run until this recent storm. Again, go see an attorney.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by divgradcurl

Statute of limitations in this case will most likely be 4 years. See Cal. C. Civ. Proc. Section 343. However, remember that the SOL generally runs from the time when you knew, or reasonably should have known, about the issue. If you had inspections that didn't show the drain, and no disclosure of the drain in the disclosure documents, then it's possible that you would not have reasonably known about the drain until now, so the SOL may not have began to run until this recent storm. Again, go see an attorney.

And stop posting this question.

[upacreek]

Originally Posted by seniorjudge

And stop posting this question.

I apologize...I couldn't find this origional thread, and I had a question about statuate of limiations on this issue. I didn't mean to duplicate post.