Plumbing issues in a new house, any recourse on my end?

[Justin Turner]

We just bought our first house, about 4 months ago. We bought so that it would work out as a rental when we move in a couple years. It turns out that we bought the house after it had had a serious re- model and been completely replumbed, and all of it appears to have been done incorrectly. Joints are not glued together correctly, etc. do we have any recourse? How should we proceed. The plumbers who came out to figure out why there was a sewer smell in the house said that there was no way it was done by a licensed plumber. Thanks for any advice ahead of time!

[Oren K.]

Justin, 

Sorry for your problems. 

Even if you could find the name of the person / company who did the work, it is unlikely that they will offer any warranty and even if they offered to 'fix' it, would you trust them? As to the seller of the house, unless there was some unusual language in the purchase agreement or warranty offered as newly rehabbed house, they have no responsibliy since I assume you had an opportunity to inspect during a due diligance period. That only leaves the inspector (assuming you used one). Even then, if the bad joints were all in the walls, an inspector will not make holes to check stuff like that.

From what you wrote, the tell-tale was the smell over time. If the place was un-occupied when you / inspector went through it, the smell was probably was minimal or non-existant. Even if present, in the 'excitment' / 'rush' of going through the place, it would be easy to miss / dismiss unless it was quite strong.

Unfortunately it is unlikely that you have any recourse other then to get things fixed yourself.

Oren