What Recourse Does My Buyer Have On A Bad Property?
I did a loan for someone who bought a townhouse "as is". She never got the final inspection report until AFTER she signed the settlement papers. All she saw prior was a summary report, but it happened to be missing a key page. Here is the problem. The roof has a leak and the basement has a HUGE water problem when it rains heavy. It was noted that there was a small water problem, but the agent said it was from a missing downspout.
Well, after a couple heavy rains, it is obvious that there is a major water problem. The water enters the foundation in several places, and even runs right behind the electrical box. The roof is not supported enough for a heavy person to stand on. The comments about the roof were not in the original copy of the reoprt the buyer got, but only in the package that was handed to her by the agent after she signed off on everything. Of course, at that point, who is going to read something that she thought she already had?
The question is, what is the recourse on this? The water damage is clearly a material issue that should have been noted by the seller. The buyer never got the page from the report stating that the roof had issues. Who is liable here, and for what?
Please advise!
- Joe
FindandAssign,
An attorney should be consulted. However, PA law requires the seller to provide buyers with a completed and signed property disclosure statement PRIOR to signing of the agreement. Did the buyer get this? This is a separate issue from the property inspection report. And in any event, if there was fraud, the fact that the buyer was purchasing as-is is immaterial. Proving fraud is difficult. The key here might be what, if any property disclosure statement did the seller provide and when did the seller provide it.
Nancy