Sewage back-up that previous owners knew about

[MuseumMom]

In PA:

We bought our house 08 18 08. The disclosure stated that the basement and garage had flooded and the owners fixed the problem by putting in a new drain and finishing the basement. A week after we moved in and the basement flooded, we found the problem behind the drywall..there was a hole drilled in a water line and the owners fixed it by putting a band aid on the hole and painting over the pipe so you couldn't see it. Our insurance and real estate companies said they couldn't do anything. Now more than a year later our garage had a sewage back up. My husband couldn't snake it himself so we ended up having Roto-Rooter come out to snake it and then put a camera down the line. It turns out that the plumbing installed when they "fixed" the flood was not up to code. The line from our house sits lower than the sewer line It is supposed to sit higher and the trap they installed is not large enough, so this issue will never stop. (I should note when we moved in there were about 10 different types of draino like products under various sinks around the house-- we knew then that eventually something bad was going to happen) We were just given a quote of 15,000 to fix it and that doesn't count the cost of having to take out and then replace the driveway afterwards since that is where the drains are located. We did have a home inspection and were told everything was fine. Do we have any recourse at this point?

 

[E.Rodriguez]

Exactly what kind of "recourse" are you looking for?

Your HO insurance is sure not going to pay.

And its YOUR house, do you really think you can go after someone (anyone) else about YOUR problem?

No. You cant, so fix it, or don't.

 

[MuseumMom]

Well actually we talked to our insurance agent after I posted this and it is partially covered

but really the issue is that the people we bought the house from lied to us repeatedly, the husband of the couple had a brother who was a certified plumber and he put the new sewage lines in himself and even provided a document in our disclosure that was supposedly the certification from the city that they came out and inspected after the line was put in (which apparently you have to do in Pittsburgh, you don't have to be certified to put in a line but you do have to have it inspected and approved afterward) and that it was correct, we even showed this to the home inspector and he said yeah yeah, that looks right. But today talking to our plumber that was here, we showed him this document and he said it's not the right document and doubted that it was real. So we called our neighbor (who works in our bough's management office) and he went through the deed records and low and behold there was never any inspection paperwork filed for our property.

It has been a long day and honestly there have been so many issues with this house, the previous owner replaced the windows himself and this winter, with a new born baby in my arms, the ENTIRE window box fell out of our bedroom window, we had to have them all replaced because he didn't seal them properly they were just kind of propped in there. Our inspector was provided by our Realtor, who we found out AFTER the sale of the house she was a cousin to the owners.

They supplied false documents in the sale of a house to make us think the city had inspected our sewage lines, there isn't anything we can do to them?

 

[E.Rodriguez]

Well actually we talked to our insurance agent after I posted this and it is partially covered

They supplied false documents in the sale of a house to make us think the city had inspected our sewage lines, there isn't anything we can do to them?

I honestly and seriously doubt it. and if I am wrong about it, someone WiLL correct me, but it has never been actionable at all in my many years of legal study.



Well, if you have sewer / pump overflow coverage, yes some parts of the incidents will be covered, and lucky you to have a beefy policy to cover that kind of thing. Congradulations.

 

[Antigone*]

I'd like to know if the OP had a home inspection prior to purchasing the home?

 

[moburkes]

Yes, there was an inspection. 2nd to last sentence. Yes, insurance would "partially" cover it - as long as the OP purchased sewer back up coverage. I'm guessing the "partial" coverage refers to the generally high deductible as well as the limited coverage for the items in the basement and/or garage.

In any case, I'd talk to an attorney. If they provided you with incorrect documentation and lied about the city passing off on the inspection, that seems like a problem for the previous owners.

 

[Antigone*]

Yes, there was an inspection. 2nd to last sentence. Yes, insurance would "partially" cover it - as long as the OP purchased sewer back up coverage. I'm guessing the "partial" coverage refers to the generally high deductible as well as the limited coverage for the items in the basement and/or garage.

In any case, I'd talk to an attorney. If they provided you with incorrect documentation and lied about the city passing off on the inspection, that seems like a problem for the previous owners.

I meant an inspection prior to pruchase. They had information there had been problems before taking possession. I realize an pre-purchase home inspection would not have amounted to anything in the discovery of any fraudulent documentt filing but it might have brought out the shoddy workmanship.

 

[moburkes]

I meant an inspection prior to pruchase. They had information there had been problems before taking possession. I realize an pre-purchase home inspection would not have amounted to anything in the discovery of any fraudulent documentt filing but it might have brought out the shoddy workmanship.

I thought that was referring to the inspection prior to purchase. I guess OP will need to clarify.