UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

DH and I have been in our house for 11 months now. We absolutely fell in love with the house when we saw it, as it was in perfect move in condition.

In NJ when you sell a house the seller has to fill out this disclosure form asking all sorts of questions like, how old is the roof, any known leaks in roof or basement, etc....

Now, we have a brand new finished basement which the previous owners finished just before putting it on the market, so the carpet's new, fresh paint, etc..... On the disclosure form the indicated there were no known water issues in the basement. Since December, we have had 4 instances of water down there, really 3 because one of those instances the hot water heater sprung a leak so I guess we can't count that. 2 of the issues have been in the same area and the other in a different area of the basement. Last nights water in the basement problem was really bad and it looks like we're going to have to replace the carpet (I'm NOT putting carpet down here again!) We spend alot of time down here, this is where we watch TV and entertain alot.

My question is, do we have any recourse against the previous owners for being untruthful on their disclosure statement? I have a very hard time believing that we all the sudden have these issues and they never had leakage in the basement before.

TIA

Message edited 7/25/2006 8:42:47 AM.

Re: Question about disclosing information when selling

NY has a similar form and I think the answers are yes, no, unknown. When we put our house on the markert the real agent said if we decide to fill this out if you put no to something then the buyer can come back and say something if unknown was put then the buyer can't do anything. In NY the seller has the option to fill out the form or give the buyer a $500 credit and not fill anything out. This happened when we purchased our house, we received the credit and when we moved in found out we needed to rewire the entire house because it was low voltage with a relay transformer in our attic!

EtA: They might have finished it because their could have been visiable water damage. That stinks if that is the case and they ddint tell you. We had some water seep through walls in our basement, it never flooded but the previous owner knew about it because their was some sort of tar on the walls and onoly on that side. DH put some river rocks out the out and made sure the dirt and rocks were on an angle away from the house and that help. The last few rain storms we had their was no water.

Message edited 7/22/2006 9:45:11 AM.

Re: Question about disclosing information when selling

Call your lawyer who did the closing. He or she should be able to tell you what kind of warranties of title the seller gave you. Did you have an inspection before you purchased the house? What does the inspection report state?

Re: Question about disclosing information when selling

Thanks!

We did have an inspection, and the inspector didn't find anything. But unless there was a rain storm or something, the day the inspection was done, then he wouldn't have known.

We did find other things that needed fixing before we closed on the house, we had people come to the house to give estimates and based on the estimates we got a credit at closing for $1000 to fix those things. Of course water in basement wasn't one of them.

I can't remember if they put no or unknown in the area that asked about water in the basement. I told DH to call the lawyer on Monday.

It just pisses me off, because this is the 3rd time in 8 months this has happened.

Re: Question about disclosing information when selling

Re: Question about disclosing information when selling

Those are my thoughts exactly, that this is not a new problem. I have definately found mold in certain areas of the basement too. We have someone coming on monday to check everything out for us and give us an estimate on fixing these problems.

Our Lawyer actually works on Sunday's so DH is going to give him a call tomorrow. We pulled out the contract and the disclosure form the sellers filled out and on it, they did say there were no water problems and/or mold in the basement.

I'm just so sick of this!

Re: Question about disclosing information when selling

Update:

So last night we got an estimate to waterproof the basement especially since we spend so much time down there. We have our couches, big screen TV, etc......It's going to be very costly to waterproof the basement too. But while the guy was there, we asked him about the likelyhood this was already an existing problem when the previous owners were there and he said he would know as soon as he checked to see how far away from the wall the sheetrock was put up. He said normally when finishing a basement the sheetrock is put up about 3 inches from the wall, and it's been his experience (he's been doing this for 30 years), that if sheetrock is any more than let's say 4 inches from the wall, in most cases it's to hide previous water damage. Lo and behold, the sheet rock is 8 inches from the wall!!!

So now in order to put this waterproofing system in, we now have to get someone in to remove about 4 feet of sheet rock from the ground up, then have this company put the system in and have the other person put up the new sheet rock back up. So, essentially we are taking a beautifully finished basement, unfinishing it, and the doing it again. To get the basement waterproofed it's going to cost $4100 and probably another $1500 to have someone do the sheet rock work. Then of course the entire basement is going to be needing to be repainted! We really have no choice but to have this done.

DH is going to be calling the attorney we used for the closing to see if we have any recourse against the previous owners... who by the way, moved literally around the corner from us.

This whole thing just really pisses me off big time!

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

UGH! that really stinks.

DH and I really want a basement when we buy a house. but when I hear stories like this, I won't cry if we end up not having one!

it seems that around this area, EVERYONE has water issues with their basements.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

You have FM

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

just under six effen grand to fix this problem!!!!

We are really hoping that once the sheetrock comes down, there will be some evidence of previous water damage (wall being patched, up etc...) The attorney told us only if we can prove they hid water damage, then we would have a case against the previous owners.

We now really believe they finished the basement to hide the water problems before they put the house on the market.

They did tell us the basement was finished less than a month before it went up for sale.

All I can say about them right now is:

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

That's awful. I hope you can prove that they knew about it and can get some $ from them.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

We had a similar problem. We closed on our house in October. It was when we had the 8 days of rain. When we got to the house the sellers daughter was outside and shes says guess what...theres a leak in the house.

So we go in and the sellers are on the phone with a roofer and they are apologizing and they can't believe this happened blah blah blah...


A few months later we are talking to the neighbors who tell us that the roof has been leaking for YEARS..

I just recently met someone who looked at my house in 2003 (that is when the sellers we bought it from bought the house) They put a bid on the house and backed out because their engineer FOUND the leak.


So my real question is why didn't my engineer find it? You only have like 3 months or something to take it up with them.

We talked to our lawyer who said we could have sued them but I don't think it be worth it. My DH and my neighbor who is in Construction were able to fix it and it doesn't leak anymore.... KNOCK ON WOOD

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

The engineer didn't find anything because the basement was literally just finished prior to putting the house on the market. And the house was only on the market for 2 days before we bid on it and got the house. There is sheetrock up in front of the foundation wall. Unless there was water coming through the sheetrock, there was no way for him to know. We've had that confirmed by the two contractors already this week.

Our attorney said if we find evidence of previous water damage on the foundation walls once we take the sheetrock down, then we could most likely have some recourse against the previous owners.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

sorry you have to go through this!

i never realized how slimy the process is until I started looking! people will say anythign to sell a house, no matter how much they are screw*ing the next guy!

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

I am in a similar situation now. I called someone to come in and clean our chimney, turns out the chimney for the oil burner is completely clogged which is dangerous so they have to drill into the chimney from the outside remove fall the old clay times and replace it with a steel liner. A little over $2,000. We just bought the house 2 months ago. I am going to call my lawyer but I dont know if we have any type of recourse with this. The chimney guy says he doesnt even know how these people ran the heat with carbon monoxide poisoning or the oil burner backing up completely.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

Take photos of everything and write emails to yourself or send certified letters documenting all of the evidence. Ask your lawyer what types of documentation he needs to support your case.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

Owning a home shouldn't be this painful! especially when you pay so much effen $$ for one!

I'm sorry to everyone who is also having a hard time.

As it stands right now, we have a basement waterproofing company coming on 8/22 to install the french drain/sump pump system. That is of course provided we can find a contractor who can take down the basement walls first. We have our contractor who we just hired to do our bathrooms coming on Wednesday night to give us an estimate on taking the walls down and then putting them back up and painting. And we are waiting on an estimate from someone else. But that person can't start the work until the beginning of September which means we'd have to push the waterproofer off until then.

I have such high anxiety over this right now. Mostly because I am dreading the mess that my beautiful basement is about to become. Dust and crap everywhere.

We will be taking pictures as the work progresses and I'm REALLY hoping we find proof of recent patchwork covering up water damage.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

Just got estimate #1 from the contractor our attorney recommended, and I wanna puke at the total cost to fix this problem. Where's that damn puke icon??? estimate #2 tomorrow

I seriously better never run into the previous owners ever again! Unlikely that will happen since they live around the corner. I hate dishonest people.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

I'm so sorry ... I feel your pain.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

Posted by MrsRbk

Just got estimate #1 from the contractor our attorney recommended, and I wanna puke at the total cost to fix this problem. Where's that damn puke icon??? estimate #2 tomorrow

I seriously better never run into the previous owners ever again! Unlikely that will happen since they live around the corner. I hate dishonest people.

Re: UPDATE AT BOTTOM Question about disclosing information when selling

Thanks for asking!

MUCH better, and mostly because we've been talking to this contractor about gutting and remodeling our two downstairs bathrooms. So he gave us a HUGE break on the price to do the work! We had one contractor give us an estimate for 5k which included:

Removing sheetrock 4ft from the ground up, removing framing, re-sheetrocking after the drain is put in, taping and spackling, and that didn't include repainting!

The guy that is doing our bathrooms is only going to charge us 1800 to do all that AND paint, so for us, it's a no brainer. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I've been so stressed out about this.

So my basement (and I'm sure the rest of my house) is going to be covered in cement dust for a week, but I guess a lot of cleaning is worth the price of a gauranteed dry basement!