Expert: Lisa Webber - 9/29/2008

Question

Lisa,
I read your profile on the website and hope that you can answer the following questions for me:

My Son recently got married.  His wife sold her town house in Baltimore, MD at the beginning of June this year and moved to my Son’s condo in Boston.
A couple of weeks ago, the buyers contacted my daughter-in-law by phone and asked her for the current address so that they can forward some mail that was sent to her at the Baltimore address. Without suspicion, my daughter-in-law gave them her address in Boston. A week later after the phone call, she received a registered letter. Before she has a chance to pick up the registered letter, her real estate agent informed her that the buyers has sent her a letter by registered mail, written by the lawyer requesting her to pay for the repair of $6,000.00 they did recently because of the water problem in the basement. They also threatened to take her to court if she fails to pay for the repair.

My daughter-in-law pulled out the sales contract, addendum, and the home inspection requested by the buyers.  She has fulfilled all the items listed on the home inspection document and were satisfied and agreed to by the buyers. In addition, my daughter-in-law has a sump pump installed in the basement and has never had water problem since she installed the sump pump. She also has the Certificate to prove that the sump pump was installed in 2005 and has no water problem afterward.  Water problems were never listed on the inspection document and the sales contract and addendum also clearly stated that what the seller and buyer agreed upon and the buyers signed on all document.

My questions to you are: a) does the buyers have legal grounds to sue my daughter-in-law for payment of the repairs? My daughter-in-law did not make any false statement during the sale and the sales contract clearly stated what she and the buyers agreed upon before settlement.
b) does the buyers have right to do any repair before obtain authorization from the seller if the buyer thinks that the seller should bear the cost? It seems to me that if they discover any problem that they think the seller should be responsible for, shouldn’t they contact the seller first before they do any repairs?  It seems like to me that this couple is taking advantage of my daughter-in-law who is young and inexperience in Real Estate transaction. It seems that they went ahead to do some home improvement in the house and wanted my daughter-in-law to pay for it c) after the contract is signed, what is the time limit for the buyers in Baltimore, Md. to take responsible for the home and cannot  asked the seller to take care of their repairs? Since this town house is 15 years old, it is bound to have some problems due to wear and tear. Can they keep contacting /threaten her for compensation of the repairs? d) what counter action does the buyer have and can she counter sue the buyers for harassment because of the continuous calling and sending of registered mail to her.

Thank you very much in advance for answering my questions.

Answer
First of all I have to tell you that since I am not a real estate attorney, I am not allowed to give you advice regarding real estate lawsuits.  My license only allows me to give you advice regarding the purchasing and sale of homes in the state of Maryland.  So I have to refer you to the expertise of a real estate attorney.

But since you have taken the time to write this out, I want to give you some food for thought.  First of all, in our society, anyone can sue anyone for anything unfortunately.  You can also countersue anyone if you are sued.  This will probably be a matter that is brought up in small claims court because it is such a small amount of money.  The filing fee for a small claims court case is only $25 and you don't need a lawyer to represent you there unless you want one.

As far as your contract, in Maryland you are required to fill out the disclosure/disclaimer form, checking off the boxes to let the buyers know if things like the plumbing and air conditioning are in working condition.  You may choose to not fill out this form, but you must fill out the form where you let the buyer know if there are any latent defects.  Previous un-repaired damages in a home that are not visible would be considered latent defects.  

The seller says she had a sump pump installed in 2005 and has not had any water problems since that time.  In that event, she is not liable for any damages to the home.  If, however, the current buyer found that the basement flooded in 2006 and finds a contractor that did the repairs and the seller hid that, the buyer would have enough proof to hold the seller responsible for the damages.  

We have had a couple periods of time where we have had ridiculous amounts of rain that are unusual.  Might that have caused problems that the seller did not experience since she installed the sump pump?  Sure.  During hurricanes and strong weather systems we'll have unusual conditions that may cause problems that we don't normally have.  Remember Hurricane Isabel and all flooding?  

Once the buyers and sellers sign the contract and the buyers have the keys to the house, it is the buyers house and their responsibility to repair any damages.  There is no time period where the seller is still responsible for repairs.  The burden of proof is on the buyers.  They have to PROVE that the seller had knowledge of water problems that were not repaired.

As far as your question about does the buyer have the right to do the repair before obtaining authorization from the seller, the answer is the house is their house, they are no longer under contract with the seller.  Some buyers will ask the former owner before doing something that they feel the former owner is liable for, especially if they don't want to wait because the need the repair done quickly.

The buyers are bullying the seller and quite frankly, if it were me, I would simply write a letter back to them and let them know that I had no knowledge of any water problems and that I was not going to pay for any repairs.  If they want to take her to court, that is their right in this country, but they also have to PROVE their case in order to get damages.  If what you are telling me is the truth, they will not prevail in court.  

It's unfortunate that they are behaving that way.  It sounds like they do feel that they have a case and feel that they were wronged in some way, but their house problems are no longer the sellers responsibility.  They have bought the house and it is theirs.

I hope this helps you somewhat.  I'm sure it just confirms what your thoughts are.  Remember, lawyers are expensive - a couple hundred dollars an hour.  Many times you'll see people pay a lawyer initially to draft a letter to scare someone into paying damages that they may or may not be responsible for, but they see the letter written by a lawyer and just pay it. If they end up proceeding with this, it will either be in small claims court, or through arbitration with the real estate commission.  If the seller was telling the truth, she has nothing to worry about.

Remember, I am not a lawyer, so I cannot give you legal advice, I just wanted to give you a little more information to help you as you go forward.

Good luck to you!