Seller didn't disclose damage which costs me big money

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Seller didn't disclose damage which costs me big money

Michael Stole
Real Estate Investor · Ottawa, Ontario · Member since 2011 · 217 posts · 14 votes
This is about my residence in Ottawa. Recently, we found two leakages in my house due to poor roof condition, though the roof is installed in 2012. There is enough evidence that the leakages existed before the transaction, and the seller temporarily covered them for sale. The seller didn't disclose these damages. It will cost me over $8000 to repair the wall and ceiling and redo the roof. Can I ask the seller to pay part of the cost?
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  • Joel OwensBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    12y

    I can't give legal advice.

    You are in Canada which laws different from the United States on real estate transactions.

    You haven't made clear if you are in contract with this property during due diligence fixing to close or have you already purchased this property and if so how long ago was it??

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  • Michael Stole
    OP
    Real Estate Investor · Ottawa, Ontario · Member since 2011 · 217 posts · 14 votes
    12y
    Thanks, Joel. It was purchase in September 2013.
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  • Roy N.Pro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Fredericton, New Brunswick · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    12y

    @Michael Stole

    Did you have a building inspection performed with the sale conditional on your satisfaction with the report?

    If you did and this was not contained in the report, then you have two possibilities:

    1) If it is something the building inspector should have caught (you will need your contractor / roofer) to provide you with a professional opinion, then it may be deemed an error/omission by your inspector (he has insurance for this);

    2) If it can be demonstrated that the seller intentionally camouflaged the defect such that the building inspector could not have been expected to discover the issue [remember the inspector is conducting a visual inspection and is not permitted to open walls, etc. ... though they are expected to enter the attic space and examine the underside of the roof], then you "may" have recourse to the seller. You will want to see your attorney and determine if it is a cost effective avenue to explore.

    However, if you did not have an inspection and waived the inspection condition in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, then there is probably little recourse available to you ... unless it can be demonstrated the homeowner was not acting above board {very difficult}.

    Go see your attorney.

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  • Michael Stole
    OP
    Real Estate Investor · Ottawa, Ontario · Member since 2011 · 217 posts · 14 votes
    12y
    Thanks, Roy. Inspection was done before submitting the contract; there is no contingency in the contract. My inspector did not notice these problems at that time, and he told me the roof was very new.
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  • Xing Zhu
    Durham, NC · Member since 2012 · 498 posts · 48 votes
    12y

    I think it depends greatly on the local regulation. I purchased a home many years ago. The inspector did a quick inspection and did not find any major problems. After the purchase, It turned out that there were quite a few major problems. My agent helped to resolved one of the them. The seller paid for it. I paid for the others. I understood at the time that the inspectors had no liability based on NC law. A few years later, I heard that the state started to put liability on inspectors. Now inspectors buy insurance for Errors & Omissions.

    A typical coverage here is 300 K. Inspectors are much more careful now. For a example, when I bought a new home, the inspector spent almost five hours and wrote me a large report.

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