Question about problem in new home

We closed on our house just about 4 months ago. It was June so clearly there was no need for heat. So when we turned on the heat the other day the 1st floor zone was not producing any heat. The 2nd floor zone works perfectly fine. When we bought the house we knew that the 2nd floor AC unit did not work. We agreed to take the house with it not working. But these are 2 different systems and the problem with the heat is on a different floor than the problem with the AC. Hope i'm making sense.

My question is if anyone has gone thru something like this where they bought a house and later found a problem. Shouldnt this have been disclosed to us that the heat didnt work? This could be a huge cost to us! Any insight would be appreciated. TIA!

Question about problem in new home

I feel like your inspector should have known this. My friends just had a house inspected they were interested in and both zones were tested first (that's actually how they found out the 2nd zone heat upstairs wasn't working)
Should be appliances ran, water ran, toilets flushed, AC on, Heat on etc...among the other things they look for structurally.

Question about problem in new home

Unfortunately, I think you're stuck with the problem. Even if you closed in the summer, your inspector should have tested all of the systems in the house. Do you still have the inspection report? I woiuld check that to see what it says. And it could have worked then and something could have happened to it since. When you buy a house, its pretty much buyer be ware. And I doubt there would be any way to prove that the seller knew about any problem with the heat.

Re: Question about problem in new home

Yeah thats what i was thinking too. I have a call into our attorney to see what she says. The thing is, the inspection was done late December and we didnt close until late June, so i'm wondering if the problem came up after the inspection was done. I doubt the seller went thru the winter with no heat on the 1st floor. There was a huge gap in time because the seller wanted to stay in the house until her daughter finished school which we agreed to.

Question about problem in new home

It could have just failed since then. There isn't much you could have done except turn the heat on during the walk through.

Re: Question about problem in new home

This happened to me 1 month after closing on my house. It turns out the thermostat/control panel just needed to be replaced. I have 3 zones, so the other 2 were working and all 3 at the time of inspection but I guess it was one of those fluke things that went shortly after we move in. Is it possible your thermostat is shot?

Re: Question about problem in new home

Unless you can somehow prove that the seller knew there was a defect with the heat and deliberately tried to conceal the defect (and it sounds like that's not the case), I think you are out of luck.

You should always test everything during the final walk through, because that is your last chance to ensure everything is working prior to taking possession of the house (after which, everything becomes your problem). You can't rely on what the inspector did weeks, often months, earlier. Things can break or become damaged in between the time of the pre-contract inspection and the closing date. Also, the seller doesn't have an obligation to disclose much to you -- they can't hide problems so that it's impossible for you to see an issue even with reasonable inspection, but it's basically "buyer beware." That's why you hire an inspector and do a final walk through in the first place.

You can always test the heat, even in the summer. It's a problem to test CAC when it gets really cold, which is why usually money is held in escrow if the house is bought over the window (and then released when it gets warm enough to test the CAC).

Honestly, the heat may have well been working even at the time of closing (even if you had tested it), but something could have broken after that. It's been months. Things in a house just break sometimes (and I am speaking as someone whose CAC broke during the July heat wave, and who just had a 4 year old washing machine break a couple of weeks ago, before a vacation! lol).

I am closing on a house with a client on Friday. The heat worked during the inspection, but it wasn't working when we were at the house a couple of weeks ago (even though the heat wasn't really being used in the interim because of the warm weather). It's a gas heating system, and it turns out the sensor that allows the pilot light to go on had broken/wasn't working. So the seller had it fixed, and we went by to check everything out last night, and the heat is working again. So sometimes things do change in a short period, and it could just be something very simple (like a valve or something being shut off, given that the other zone of heat is working and it's not a problem with the whole system).

Hope you can sort it out quickly and it's nothing major!

Question about problem in new home

We always have issues with heat at the beginning of every season. Maybe you just need a service call.

Re: Question about problem in new home

Yeah i figured we are probably sh!t out of luck. Why we didnt test the heat, i dont know, but we are definitely kicking ourselves! We are going to try replacing the thermostat and see if thats the problem but i dont think it is because it worked just fine when it controlled the CAC during the summer.

On another note...anyone know a good HVAC guy? We are in Holtsville.

Re: Question about problem in new home

This should have been checked during the inspection... I don't think the sellers have to disclose anything unless you specifically asked the right questions. And even then, they may not be truthful. That's why you have an inspection and a walk through done. What went unnoticed is now unfortunately your problem

Eta: when I had my heat pump replaced, I used central air systems in Medford. The installers were great. We had it serviced a few times bc of a faulty part and they were very accommodating.

Message edited 10/23/2013 4:17:49 PM.

Re: Question about problem in new home

We had similar issues and I believe the lines needed to be bled. Our plumber friend did this for us.

After Sandy, we had the whole boiler replaced and the heat worked a lot better after that so we also think it could've been related to that as well.

Welcome to the world of being a homeowner.

Unfortunately, I think it is what it is.

What's up with the posts lately with people thinking the seller owes them post-sale?


There was something similar posted the other day.

I'm not trying to be snarky at all, but I feel like some people don't realize what they are getting into when they buy a home.

Re: Question about problem in new home

we were told at the final walk through to check and make sure everything was working and i was told specifically to check the heat.

since time between inspection and closing can be a while i think the point of the walk through is to ensure everything is still the way it was when you first looked at the house.

Re: Question about problem in new home

Re: Question about problem in new home

Re: Question about problem in new home

Re: Question about problem in new home

That is SO funny! Glad it worked out.

Will just add that the final walk through is not just to look for problems, but also to make sure you have all info you need for when you move in. So for those who have upcoming closings, make sure you use the final walk through as an opportunity to ask questions of the seller and get info you need (e.g., where is the water main shut off? how do you work the sprinkler systems? where are the thermostats and what do they control?). [This stuff is also likely documented in your home inspection report, so keep that handy!]

Also, the final walk through is a good chance to ask the seller for info you may want/need, like who do they use for landscaping, what days are garbage/recycling picked up, do they have manuals for any appliances, even where is the best supermarket? Unless you have had a very contentious deal, or the seller isn't local (e.g., an estate sale or something), most sellers are happy to share this info!

Re: Question about problem in new home

We had something similar happen. Somehow our emergency "off" button for the boiler got turned off (I am thinking DS did it because a lot of his toys are in the basement).

We thought the boiler went and then realized the same thing before we called someone like idiots.