Legal Action Against Inspector, Agent or Seller?

If your home came with structural problems at the time of purchase and someone – should have you been told? The problems can come days, weeks, months or even years later. In such cases, you might actually be able to ask the responsible person to pitch in, and take the matter to court if they don’t. Read on to learn more.

Minor Home Defects or Natural Aging Aren’t Grounds for a Lawsuit

You probably knew when you bought the house that it wasn’t in perfect condition and if you had a home inspector, they probably let you know about a few issues. Then after the sale, your home probably continued its normal process of aging and decaying, None of these sorts of issues are worthy of complaint to the seller.

Could the Home Seller Be Held Legally Responsible?

Almost every U.S. state has laws requiring sellers to advise buyers of certain defects in the property. The form usually asks the seller to state whether the property has certain features (like appliances, a roof, a foundation, systems for electricity, water, and heating, and more) and then to rate or describe their condition. If there is a place on the form where the seller should have stated a problem, you must work out if the seller knew of the problem.

Could the Seller’s Real Estate Agent Be Held Legally Responsible?

Some states’ laws make sellers’ real estate agents liable for failing to disclose problems they observed or were told of by the sellers.

Could Your Home Inspector Be Held Legally Responsible?

The inspector should have spotted problems that the seller wasn’t aware of or was turning a blind eye to. If the inspector missed problems that an expert (a professional peer) should have noticed, the inspector may have responsibility.

Do You Have a Solid Case?

Once you have figured out the possible responsible parties, you’ll want to know whether their action—or inaction—might entitle you to compensation.

The defect was there before you bought the home. The seller couldn’t have hidden problems that didn’t exist during the period of ownership. Again, problems that started post-purchase or that are a natural result of the home’s aging or your lapses in maintenance are yours to deal with.
It’s not an obvious defect that you could have seen yourself before buying. Don’t worry if your inspector should have seen the problem. You also have a potential claim against the inspector, too.
No one told you about the defect before the sale, or someone actually lied to you about it. The responsible party might have been the seller, the seller’s agent, or the inspector.
You’ve incurred monetary damage as a result. Your costs of repairs or related damages (such as destruction of your personal property due to a flooded basement, or a decrease in your property value due to an undisclosed environmental hazard) will become legally speaking, the “damages” that you may collect.
You’re within any appropriate deadlines (“statutes of limitation”). Every state puts limits on how long you have, from the date you discover a problem or reasonably should have discovered it, to sue someone.

Legal Basis for Filing a Lawsuit

Here are some reasons you may potentially sue someone for:

failure to disclose (according to your state’s statute)
negligence
fraud
breach of contract
breach of warranty, or
negligent misrepresentation.

Where to Sue Over Home Defects

Your main options for actually filing a lawsuit include:

small claims court, if the damages are under a certain limit, or
state court.

Filing in small claims court allows you to proceed with your case without a lot of the expensive administrative hassles of a “regular” lawsuit. You can represent yourself (in some states, attorneys are actually forbidden), the rules are typically not as rigid, and your case should be resolved relatively quickly. When the total of monetary damages you’re asking for exceeds the small claims court limit, your next option is filing suit in state court, most likely with the help of an attorney.

Source: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/bought-home-with-defects-whos-30058.html

Craig Cherney is a trusted client advisor and a sought after real estate lawyer and expert witness who is hired by the nation’s top Real Estate Litigation Attorneys to help resolve their litigated real property matters. Craig has appeared as a testifying expert witness before judges and juries in California, Arizona, Nevada and other jurisdictions across the country. Craig Cherney, Esq. Expert Witness Real Estate. 480-399-2342. If you are litigating an easement case, Craig Cherney might be able to help you advance and win your case.