Under Contract - Basement Flooded: Now what???

[Ericka G.]

Hi all, Went under contract on a house last month but haven't closed yet as the seller was having some title issues. Went by with my realtor yesterday to review what work I'd need to do and we find the basement with about an inch of water in various places :( House is still technically under owner's control so my realtor said they would be responsible for getting the water out and cleaning up the basement. The other option would be to back out of the deal at the final walk through (since condition of the house has changed since our agreement) or ask for more money off so I can handle the clean up myself. I've never had this happen before so I'm stumped on how to proceed. The house is next door to another one that we own which is what made it appealing, but I'm starting to think it is more trouble than it's worth. It's an ok deal but not so great once I have to add in water extraction, repairs, and potential mold remediation. Has anyone ever backed out of a deal while under contract due to a sudden event like a basement flood? Thanks for any input...

[Joel Owens]

A purchase and sale contract usually mentions and act of god paragraph and if something has  (materially changed) with the property the buyer can cancel. There is also mention most of the time about insurance claims and capped values for seller credit and repair.

I would worry about a seller repairing the property. When selling they tend to do the cheapest thing possible. The real issue here is WHY the water ended up in the basement and the main cause. You can clean it up but if it happens again nothing was fixed to prevent again.

You need to find out how much to fix the problem so it does not happen again and not just the cleanup.

No legal advice given.