AlexNotAttourny
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?State, Minnesota.
I recently sold a property in Minnesota. Closing occured over 2 months ago.
Last week I recieved a call from the buyers' agent saying that they were having problems with the sewage system. I was told that a blumber had come out and discovered that the clog could not be removed because there was a partial collapse in the sewer line blocking the pipe and that this break had occured excactly 58 feet from the house.
I initially agreed to pay for a patch of the broken pipe section and asked for bids to be sent to me. The next day the realtor talked to me and gave me a bid of some $6500. This was the only bid she game me and stated that she has worked with this company for 12 years and they are very honest. I insisted on getting 3 bids to find a more reasonable price, but she kept pushing me to accept this one bid as soon as possible, later telling me that the bid accidentally included $800 for a new waterline that is perfectly functional and we shouldnt have to pay for it so the bid is actually $5500.
I got a controctor to put in another bid after making the calls for other bids myself. They came in at 1700 dollars and conveyed to me that the owner had come out and asked the worker they sent to perform several other repairs besides what we were told was needed and to add them to the bid. The contractor informed them that they would assess the price of the repairs they were asked by me to perform and that anything else that thay wanted done independantly would not be added to my bill.
After hearing this I accepted their reasonable bid and told them to start the work ASAP since the owners had not been able to inhabit the house due to these problems. To my shock the owner of the house called my contractor and ordered them not to begin digging!
I recieved a call from his realtor. She was obviously flustered that I had gotten another bid and was stuttering manically. She said that there was a SAG in the line and that because of it the whole line needed to be replaced. Which is what her bid included.
As it turns out from her attournys letter to me, there was no break in the line as she had told me. The issue was over a SAG in it and I am liable bacause I knew there was a problem, namely a sag, before selling them the house.
I was aware of a sag that was once a problem and consulted 2 licenced plumbing firms about how to remedy the problem almost a year before selling the house. They told me to replace the small drain trap with a larger one and replace my water saver toilet with a larger one as well. This would increase flow so solids would have enough water to carry them past the sag.
I had the drain trap replaced and the toilet as well by one of those companies. After that, the drain functioned flawlessly for all 10 months preceeding the sale. Before the work was done, it had clogged every 2 or 3 months. I considered the problem solved as the plumbers had told me.
I disclosed the fact that we had issues with the drain clogging up and had replaced the trap to deal with the issue and no problems had occured since.
They are demanding settlement of $6500 dollars to complete the repairs or they will sue.
It seems to me that since they lied to me about what the problem was and tried to trick me into paying for repairs that I was not informed of and are now suing for the price of not only the repairs of the sewer line, but for the replacement of a fully functional water line that the realtor admitted I should not have to pay for, they are guilty of fraud.
I tried to be as honest and forthcoming as possible and out of my own kindness was willing to pay %100 of the cost of patching a break that never existed. Do they have a case against me? Did their actions constitute fraud? And if so what can I do?
Thanks.
I recently sold a property in Minnesota. Closing occured over 2 months ago.
Last week I recieved a call from the buyers' agent saying that they were having problems with the sewage system. I was told that a blumber had come out and discovered that the clog could not be removed because there was a partial collapse in the sewer line blocking the pipe and that this break had occured excactly 58 feet from the house.
I initially agreed to pay for a patch of the broken pipe section and asked for bids to be sent to me. The next day the realtor talked to me and gave me a bid of some $6500. This was the only bid she game me and stated that she has worked with this company for 12 years and they are very honest. I insisted on getting 3 bids to find a more reasonable price, but she kept pushing me to accept this one bid as soon as possible, later telling me that the bid accidentally included $800 for a new waterline that is perfectly functional and we shouldnt have to pay for it so the bid is actually $5500.
I got a controctor to put in another bid after making the calls for other bids myself. They came in at 1700 dollars and conveyed to me that the owner had come out and asked the worker they sent to perform several other repairs besides what we were told was needed and to add them to the bid. The contractor informed them that they would assess the price of the repairs they were asked by me to perform and that anything else that thay wanted done independantly would not be added to my bill.
After hearing this I accepted their reasonable bid and told them to start the work ASAP since the owners had not been able to inhabit the house due to these problems. To my shock the owner of the house called my contractor and ordered them not to begin digging!
I recieved a call from his realtor. She was obviously flustered that I had gotten another bid and was stuttering manically. She said that there was a SAG in the line and that because of it the whole line needed to be replaced. Which is what her bid included.
As it turns out from her attournys letter to me, there was no break in the line as she had told me. The issue was over a SAG in it and I am liable bacause I knew there was a problem, namely a sag, before selling them the house.
I was aware of a sag that was once a problem and consulted 2 licenced plumbing firms about how to remedy the problem almost a year before selling the house. They told me to replace the small drain trap with a larger one and replace my water saver toilet with a larger one as well. This would increase flow so solids would have enough water to carry them past the sag.
I had the drain trap replaced and the toilet as well by one of those companies. After that, the drain functioned flawlessly for all 10 months preceeding the sale. Before the work was done, it had clogged every 2 or 3 months. I considered the problem solved as the plumbers had told me.
I disclosed the fact that we had issues with the drain clogging up and had replaced the trap to deal with the issue and no problems had occured since.
They are demanding settlement of $6500 dollars to complete the repairs or they will sue.
It seems to me that since they lied to me about what the problem was and tried to trick me into paying for repairs that I was not informed of and are now suing for the price of not only the repairs of the sewer line, but for the replacement of a fully functional water line that the realtor admitted I should not have to pay for, they are guilty of fraud.
I tried to be as honest and forthcoming as possible and out of my own kindness was willing to pay %100 of the cost of patching a break that never existed. Do they have a case against me? Did their actions constitute fraud? And if so what can I do?
Thanks.