Getting sued over a leaky roof on a flip house.
Thank you ahead of time for your input.
Situation:
I purchased and flipped a house in Phoenixville Pa. Very nice 3br single home in a nice area. We did a COMPLETE rehab on the property including roof,siding,windows,dormer, 2 new baths, new floorring,kitchen,HVAC. The whole shooting match.
The houserehad was completed in Mid December 2013 and listed for sale. We had one of the worst winters we had in Pa in 20yrs. Snow on the roof constantly, ect.
The house was completely staged through out the winter months as the bad weather kept people away. finally it went to settlement on April 20 2014. Prior to settlement the buyers had a home inspection done and the house was also inspected by the local borough as we pulled permits to complete the work we had done.
April 21st, the day after settlement this area of PA and many other parts of the state had torrential down pours and I get a call from the new owner..."Chris the living room has a leak and it is coming out of the high hat lite and I don't know what to do!" Me being the nice guy that I am went over to see if there was a simple solution (In the torrential downpour). I got there and noticed the leak, looked around the outside for a missing shingle or anything obvious. Nothing. What I mentioned was that, "I know this isn't want you want to hear, but I feel as the rain is coming down so hard and the wind is so strong that I felt water might have been blowing into the ridge vent and making it's way down and following the path of least resistance." I suggested that they wait for the storm to pass and that it may not happen ever again, but if he would like he could call me later in the week to look at it when it wasn't coming down like buckets of water from the sky.
No call, but what he does is call a local "thief" being he is new to the area who is a "roof expert." He climbed on his roof and took pictures under 3 shingles that he lifted of nail holes that were not calked over, dabbed some calk on them and claimed that is the leak, problem solved and handed the guy a bill (1 hour later) for $940.. !!! BOY AM I IN THE WRONG BUSINESS.
Owner calls me and lets me know the "Roof Expert" solved the problem and that I need to do the right thing, and pay the bill. I explained that I offered to help him earlier, and that I WAS NOT going to pay ANYONE $940 to dab some calk on shingles, and futher more that I don't feel that was where the water was coming from.
I just had a state constable deliver me a summons today that this guy is now taking me to court over this damn bill.
MY question is......WHEN DO I NO LONGER BECOME RESPONSIBLE for the house? HOW do I make sure to win this in court? Am I gonna get a summons next week because his window is stuck and he had to pay someone $500 to spray it with WD40? If a pipe under the sink breaks and he hires someone to replace it for $10,000 am I on the hook? I know I am being sarcastic here, but it is about principle.
I spoke to a lawyer buddie of mine today about going to the local JP and the outcome, and he simply said, "Those judges could care less about the law, the judge will make you pay half as thet like the easy way out."
What ever happened the the law? How do I win this? And who is to say that during the next 100yr storm it won't happen again?