What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ
Edit:Not sure if this is in the correct place. Feel free to move/delete it if it needs to go in the small claims section. (technically special civil for this)
Hi all, First time post and any help is appreciated. I'll try to keep it brief and not leave out any important details - i'll point out all the obvious dumb stuff we did to get ourselves in this situation so leave your comments for the end. Lesson learned for sure - an expensive 1 at a that.
Found a realtor who worked with a "builder." In reality it was a guy who flipped houses for a living. We trusted her and put an offer on the house whilst still in construction (mistake #1). We were in a bind (2 kids on the way) and needed a house, and had also seen his other work, which was the best value for money we found in our area.
We signed in March, but the house had a few things that still needed doing(mistake #2), namely the backyard. From day 1 it was in the contract to have the pool removed and filled, but we also wanted the remaining debris removed as well as the yard graded because it wasn't flat. We weren't happy with the condition but it was 7 days before we had to move out of our lease, so we signed for the house and added a written contract for the seller. I don't know if i'm allowed to post verbatim the contract, but it's basically an escrow agreement that says $5000 is to be held for the work to be done.
Lots of it is small stuff on the inside and outside its:
fill in pool, permit required
grading the backyard so that it's flat
fix broken fence
remove debris.
All to be done within 30 days.
Seller's attorney refused more than $5000 for the work - he was not there himself (mistake #3)
A week after closing it pours like crazy. Basement leaks like crazy. - not floods, but pools water at the sides. We attribute at least part of this to the horrible grading job as the site was just left after construction with no cleanup. The ground slopes back to the house(why we wanted this grading work done in the first place) The sump pump was pumping to a small pool of water and it was going right back into the basement. It was a mess, luckily no damage to our stuff we put down there.
Months go by, no word from the seller. We get quotes to do the remaining work. They ranged from $20k to $15k
5 Monthsafter closing we file a lawsuit because the work was not done. All that was done was that he took out the pool liner and left a big hole in our backyard. A couple other inside things were also done.
I sent the contract to a lawyer and he said that it would cost too much to hire a lawyer for this, but you have a case so go in front of the judge and see what happens. I don't have extra money for a lawyer. That all went to water proofing the basement.
In the contract it unfortunately says (mistake #4) that if the deadlines are not met, we will address them ourselves and deduct the cost from escrow.
My question is - any hope in hell we're going to get more than $5000? We're suing for the whole $15k.
Thanks in advance.
MattIvy
Edit:Not sure if this is in the correct place. Feel free to move/delete it if it needs to go in the small claims section. (technically special civil for this)
Hi all, First time post and any help is appreciated. I'll try to keep it brief and not leave out any important details - i'll point out all the obvious dumb stuff we did to get ourselves in this situation so leave your comments for the end. Lesson learned for sure - an expensive 1 at a that.
Found a realtor who worked with a "builder." In reality it was a guy who flipped houses for a living. We trusted her and put an offer on the house whilst still in construction (mistake #1). We were in a bind (2 kids on the way) and needed a house, and had also seen his other work, which was the best value for money we found in our area.
We signed in March, but the house had a few things that still needed doing(mistake #2), namely the backyard. From day 1 it was in the contract to have the pool removed and filled, but we also wanted the remaining debris removed as well as the yard graded because it wasn't flat. We weren't happy with the condition but it was 7 days before we had to move out of our lease, so we signed for the house and added a written contract for the seller. I don't know if i'm allowed to post verbatim the contract, but it's basically an escrow agreement that says $5000 is to be held for the work to be done.
Lots of it is small stuff on the inside and outside its:
fill in pool, permit required
grading the backyard so that it's flat
fix broken fence
remove debris.
All to be done within 30 days.
Seller's attorney refused more than $5000 for the work - he was not there himself (mistake #3)
A week after closing it pours like crazy. Basement leaks like crazy. - not floods, but pools water at the sides. We attribute at least part of this to the horrible grading job as the site was just left after construction with no cleanup. The ground slopes back to the house(why we wanted this grading work done in the first place) The sump pump was pumping to a small pool of water and it was going right back into the basement. It was a mess, luckily no damage to our stuff we put down there.
Months go by, no word from the seller. We get quotes to do the remaining work. They ranged from $20k to $15k
5 Monthsafter closing we file a lawsuit because the work was not done. All that was done was that he took out the pool liner and left a big hole in our backyard. A couple other inside things were also done.
I sent the contract to a lawyer and he said that it would cost too much to hire a lawyer for this, but you have a case so go in front of the judge and see what happens. I don't have extra money for a lawyer. That all went to water proofing the basement.
In the contract it unfortunately says (mistake #4) that if the deadlines are not met, we will address them ourselves and deduct the cost from escrow.
My question is - any hope in hell we're going to get more than $5000? We're suing for the whole $15k.
Thanks in advance.
MattIvy
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