HELP! House Gone WRONG !
I purchased a new-construction 2-family home in Far Rockaway, Queens in New York City on May 3rd.
Note that when I signed the purchase contract, I was given a one-year warranty on all the plumbing, heating, electrical and quality of workmanship.
When I did the walk-through before the closing, everything was working fine (faucets, toilets, heat, etc). Now these have happened:
The apartments have separate electricity and furnaces. Now, the 2nd floor heat & hot water is not working. I believe the pilot in the furnace and hot water heater burned out and needs to be lit again.
Also, both the 1st and 2nd floor toilets won’t flush properly (water rises high in bowls, water stops running, then slowly goes all the way down to the toilet hole).
The hardwood from the floors are becoming uneven, a definite failure for government program inspection.
Thank goodness I haven’t had tenants move in as yet, however, an inspector will be coming this week to inspect both apartments for tenants I accepted for a government program.
I’ve been calling my closing attorney to tell him about this, being that I have the 1-year warranty. He told me he’s been making calls to the seller’s attorney and have not received a response from them. Time is definitely of the essence here.
I’m thinking about purchasing the Prepaid Legal benefit (I can’t afford a lot in attorney fees), fix all the plumbing myself and have my Prepaid attorney sue the seller of the house for reimbursement of the repairs.
What should I do? Do you think this is a good idea?
Thanks CJMazur. Great advice.
As an attorney who often represents builders, my adsvice to you is to check your Contract and see if there is a Rider containing the procedure for making a claim against the Warranty. You will want to make sure you follow that procedure carefully.
You will probably have to bring an action against the Builder. Note that they often form different corporations for different projects to insulate themselves from liability.