I bought the house from the owner. The mortgage company handled all of the financing procedures and I was to pay the man a $12,000 down payment. According to our contract that we signed at the title company, everything was in perfect working order. We especially questioned the septic system and the air conditioning system. I was to pay $130 per month for the term of the loan (30 year mortgage) to pay for my down payment, however I agreed to help the owner out and pay him $1000 per month for 12 months to pay the down payment within a year. I paid my final payment in January of 2001 and we have had nothing bought problems with the house since we bought it. After 90 days of signing the paperwork the paint and wallpaper started falling off of the walls. I had to totally refloat one entire bathroom and repaint it. In less then six months of signing the papers the upstairs portion of the Central Air system went out (installer stated that the entire bottom was rusted out and could have been some serious trouble if we had not replaced it when we did). The owner replaced the unit but left me with the installation charges which came up to $500. About six months after that, the septic system started backing up, to where it flooded the entire bottom portion of the house and the outdoor portion of the Central air system was starting to go out. We sent a certified letter to the former owner, holding him responsible for the repairs and to uphold his end of the contractual agreement. After a little while he said that he would come out a fix the problems but he would no longer be responsible to fix anything else. We agreed that we would take care of the repainting and any other small fixes if he would have the septic system and the Central Air System, to include the duct work repaired. We wanted certified personel but he wanted to do the work himself). He came out and said there was no problems with the duct work and that he is replacing the out door portin of the Central Air System. He half assed fixed the septic, it still backs up but not as often as it used to. He replaced the burned out system with another system that was 16 years old. the same day that his "expert" came out and installed the system we had to call a liscensed Air Conditioning representative to come and fix what they did wrong. He had to weld the fittings on the unit because it was leaking freon faster than we could put it in. That cost me $100. Here just recently the unit was leaking freon once again and we also had the duct work replaced so now that we can get the proper air circulation. I was told by the court system that I needed to send another certified letter, this time to recoup any monies that we needed to fix all of the problems. The former owener decided to replace the outdoor unit with a new unit, a brand that not even the dealer and contractor would recommend. I am running out of ideas on this matter, I do not want to get rid of my house, but I feel that it is unfair that I held up my end of the agreement and I can not get the same courtesy out of the man who sold me the house. It does state in my contract that everything is in perfect working condition, yet he took my money and I am still spending money to fix all of his "jerry rigging". Am I entitled to recoup my down payment since he did not up hold his end of the contract? If I try and get my money back will I lose my house back to him. If I lose my house will he be resposible to repay me for all of my house notes that I paid? Where can I find this type of information and what else should I do?
