W
watertroubles
Guest
We purchased a home in Michigan in 1997. The disclosure statement denied any previous drainage or grading problems,nor any previous flooding problems. After living in the home four months we had major flooding through our yard coming very close to the house. We discovered that the previous owners had the same problems and were compensated $18,000 for their damages by the Township. The cause - a firestation was built across the street and the change in grading, installation of a large parking lot and new culverts cause an increase in water flow. Former homeowner's claimed that they were not allowed to disclosed this, Township blames the Road Commission, Road Commission blames the Engineers and so on...
We have been trying to settle this but it goes round robin with everyone trying to blame the other. The fix would be to either close the culvert and run it under the road to a retention pond or for us to dig a channel through our yard which would have to be highly landscaped to make it look like it belonged there. The watercourse runs right through the middle of our property. The quotes we have received are about $40,000 for the complete job including landscaping.
The former owner's homeowner's insurance first said they would not pay for liability due to unknown defects, but now agree to because the construction company that built the firestation has the same insurance company and they don't want to lose them as a customer. I know this case will settle eventually, however not for the entire amount to fix the problem or the legal and expert fees that we have already paid out. We will end up in the hole regardless of the outcome, but must make the improvements if we ever want to sell this house.
My question is this - Does our homeowners insurance have any obligation to pay the difference between the settlement we receive and the cost to repair the defect, (which caused our property value to drop, as verified by the State of Michigan Tax Tribunal's ruling that our property taxes should be dropped) of our property at the time of purchase? Or do you have any other thoughts about this case.
We have been trying to settle this but it goes round robin with everyone trying to blame the other. The fix would be to either close the culvert and run it under the road to a retention pond or for us to dig a channel through our yard which would have to be highly landscaped to make it look like it belonged there. The watercourse runs right through the middle of our property. The quotes we have received are about $40,000 for the complete job including landscaping.
The former owner's homeowner's insurance first said they would not pay for liability due to unknown defects, but now agree to because the construction company that built the firestation has the same insurance company and they don't want to lose them as a customer. I know this case will settle eventually, however not for the entire amount to fix the problem or the legal and expert fees that we have already paid out. We will end up in the hole regardless of the outcome, but must make the improvements if we ever want to sell this house.
My question is this - Does our homeowners insurance have any obligation to pay the difference between the settlement we receive and the cost to repair the defect, (which caused our property value to drop, as verified by the State of Michigan Tax Tribunal's ruling that our property taxes should be dropped) of our property at the time of purchase? Or do you have any other thoughts about this case.