Recourse for undisclosed issues in home purchase?

[fatbacks]

Look at your state disclosure laws. Here in Alaska if a seller knowingly fails to disclose an issue, they are liable for 3x damages for up to three years after selling the home. Like others have said, proving they knowingly covered it up is difficult.

Best I could think of is calling local plumbing companies and see if they were called to your house in the past few years for that complaint. Easy to do if you live in a small town with only a few companies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EastHumboldt]

I spent 30 years in the building maintenance business. In addition to focusing on warming and preventing the pipes from bursting, pay attention to how you’re going to shut the water off fast if they have already burst. One year we had pipes freeze in about half of our buildings during a severe cold snap and that was bad. What was worse is some of them had burst and we didn’t know it until they thawed, in which case we were scrambling to get the water off.

Should be an owners shutoff somewhere in the house or crawlspace. Find it and verify that it shuts off the whole house. Also if you have city water, locate your curbside shutoff and figure out how to operate it. If you have a pump figure out how to shut off the feed to the house, killing the power to the pump is not enough.

 

[2five7]

I bet you've got a water line crossing, or running in the same floor joist/stud/truss bay, as a metal vent pipe. The metal pipe conducts cold from outside the house into where the water pipe is and freezes it.

 

[Ucsdryder]

“It never happened to me. I always kept the thermostat at 80 degrees during the winter because my wife has circulation issues.” Good luck getting them to pay for it. I would hire a plumber. Drop a camera into the line and figure out where it is. Remove some dry wall, insulate, move on.

 

[UtahJimmy]

Had a similar issue a month after we moved into our home. Traced the lines and found they were routed outside the house. There is a door directly below my kitchen sink and the lines come out above that for. Those pipes now have heat tape on them that gets plugged in during the fall and unplugged in the spring. $15 fix.

IMO: Definitely not worth the hassle of getting a greedy lawyer involved. See if you can get your insurance involved. If you're not handy, call a plumber.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[fwafwow]

+1 to get an attorney. The law varies by state - and there are states in which the seller has no obligation, or very limited obligations (depending on what the real estate standard contract provides), on disclosing known defects. Depending on the law in your state, it might be on you, your inspector (subject to what exceptions and other provisions are in his contract) or the seller. Sorry you are having to deal with it.

 

[Fastflight]

Shocked at all the lawyer up advice so far. I don't think there is anyway a lawyer can prove the previous owner knew about this issue. The lawyer cost will most likely be more than the repair unless there is zero access to the frozen pipe. You got some good advice above on figuring out where it's frozen and how to shut off the water if it bursts. Hope you can at least figure that much out as it doesn't sound like you have done much recon yet. Keep us updated. Good luck!!

 

[EastHumboldt]

One of my best friends is an attorney. He commonly advises people to weigh the costs of what they have to fix against the cost of an attorney. They usually start billing you the second they pick up the phone. To win a court case, you must prove you have been damaged, and how much that damage is worth, in this case can’t wash your hands cant take a shower.

So before you call an attorney, try to figure out what you got there, and take steps to protect your property as advised above in post number 22.

 

[JohnB]

Figure out where the issue is happening from then proceed from there. If it's a couple hundred dollar fix then go for that. If its a couple thousand dollars then consider talking to a lawyer. The real key is to get those pipes thawed pronto and to watch to make sure that nothing burst and to be ready to shut off water to the house if something did burst.

 

[tuffcity]

As mentioned, are there any cold air returns near your pipes? I had one line to the kitchen sink (a hot water line) that would freeze up once the outside temps got into the mid negative 30's (Celsius or -30F) it drove me nuts as the cold line was fine. I finally figured out that it was the cold air vent for my oil hot water tank and the hot line was close to it. A piece of foam pipe insulation on the corner and it was fine. Even today, and its -40 in both C and F and it hasn't frozen.

Hopefully your issue might be as simple as that.

 

[scooter25]

I had a similar experience. We bought our house in December and when spring arrived and the snow melted the basement started to collect water. We found it was coming through the foundation wall. The carpet had been recently replaced in the room the water collected. There was no way that was the first time it happened. I had to excavate the foundation and apply a water proof membrane and a an exterior well/sump pump. It cost about $10K. When considering hiring a lawyer at $150/hour it would only take about 2 weeks of his time to cost more than the fix with no guarantee of recouping any money.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

For those that suggest the easy ones...my wood stove is CRANKED. Every means of heat is maxed. I live apart from my wife in this home during the week. This house is only 1400sq ft. Single story. Jinky AF. All plumbing and electrical I believe is listed as “self”.
Never crossed paths w former owner. While viewing home prior to purchase I gather he was prior Law Enforcement. I am also Law Enforcement. Active.
My neighbor recently approached me and asked me for “water”. Seems a valve in my greenhouse fills her above ground 250 gallon tank 140 yards away. That wasn’t fully disclosed to me either.
Basically this AH just wanted his check and bail back to California.
I have enough green cash remaining from the sale of my former home and I’m quite principled. If the fees are less than $4000.....I’m quit inclined to attempt to stick my boot right up his ass if I can legally win.

 

[WCB]

I can not believe how many people jump to litigation so quick. For something that could be super simple why take on the aggravation and cost? I get it, I get it....maybe they didn't disclose it. Or maybe it never happened before? You hardly got FKt. I would hate to see you with a real issue.

I would trace the pipes....find anywhere you think it would cause it to freeze.. against outside wall...maybe a crawl space under the house that isn't sealed well, perhaps against a return like some mentioned above. You could take a heat gun or even a hair drier and warm the pipe up enough to get that section thawed and get water moving through it. Ad some insulation to the pipe or wrap it with a heat cable and plug it in. You could have it fixed in a couple hours and under $100 bucks.

Open the cabinet under the sink and open the handles up.

 

[Jesse Jaymes]

Simply...this is NOT the first time this has occurred. I’m cheap in many aspects. I generally keep the inside 53-59 degrees and wear a hoody while watching Yellowstone. I knew it was fixing to get cold. I turned all the heat UP in advance.
This was for certain a known issue to the prior owner

 

[wapitibob]

If you have water going to an adjoining property you have bigger problems than a frozen pipe.

 

[Beendare]

Before you call an attorney

The best remedy is probably going back to your real estate agent that sold you the house. They have a lot of responsibilities in the sales plus they are the deep pockets.

if they give you a hard time threaten to go to the real estate license board in your state and file a complaint.


—-

 

[fwafwow]

Just to be clear, my recommendation to talk to an attorney isn't the same as suggesting you go to court. There are plenty of people on here who have told you the seller is responsible, or that the agent might be responsible, but you don't know whether either of those statements is true. If you are responsible, or if the repairs aren't worth the effort of proceeding, you are in the same boat. The initial question about who is responsible isn't material, but I'd still ask around to see if you know anyone who might do you a solid and give you that answer for free. You might also get the same info from a real estate agent - but I'd hold off on threatening the agent unless and until you learn they have any responsibility.

 

[Preston]

When I sell my house I’m not selling to anyone from California. I’m not referring to the original poster. Secondly, It’s has gotten significantly colder in Montana/Idaho than the past two winters. No judge is going to side with you, when you have a inspection report and lived in the house for two years. A foundation that has settled, working without a permit, black mold/lead paint contamination, meth house, etc would be a option for suing, but bc you didn’t prepare for cold temperatures is no fault but your own

 

[def90]

Any time you buy a house that has plumbing as in a kitchen or bathroom sink or whatever located on an exterior wall it should be assumed that it will freeze at some point in time. They probably just stuffed insulation in the cavity covering up the pipes when they should have only put insulation between the pipes and exterior wall and left the pipes exposed to the inside.

It sucks, but it's something an inspector isn't going to find without cutting holes in walls and proving that there was ill intent on the part of the seller in court is probably not worth the time.

 

[Ben Nicholson]

Before you call an attorney

The best remedy is probably going back to your real estate agent that sold you the house. They have a lot of responsibilities in the sales plus they are the deep pockets.

if they give you a hard time threaten to go to the real estate license board in your state and file a complaint.


—-

How is his agent responsible? They aren’t an inspector. Even an inspector probably wouldn’t have caught it. It’s up to the seller to disclose defects.