Expert: Russel Ray - 8/26/2009

Question
My wife and I purchased a home in June 2009 in Fort Worth.  The seller disclosed basically no information being wrong with the home.  We did have a home inspection and that individual did find several issues (unrelated problems).  He did not relay the severity of the findings.  Upon the first rain, the entire back side of the house had water pouring from the ceiling.  This issue had to be known by the sellers.  Do we have any grounds to pursue the sellers for concealment over this and other issues and ask for repair costs to be covered by them?

Answer
Hey, Scott.

It's possible, especially in Texas since the TREC licenses home inspectors there.

Remember that the home inspector is on your side, so call him first and have him come out and document the condition and, possibly, explain how it could happen without any visual clues to him. It's possible that there were no visual clues, either because the Seller had work done that did, in fact, conceal the problem, or it was one of those things where the inevitable finally happened, which it sometimes does. Get your home inspector further on your side in case you do have to take the issue to the Sellers.

Next, contact your Realtor and let her/him convey the problem to the Sellers/Sellers' Realtor, so that they will know you have a problem. You don't have to tell them anything additional at this point. Just let them know that you have a problem and that you will be doing additional investigative work.

Depending on what your home inspector says, you might also need documentation from a licensed roofing contractor, but let's save that until after you contact your home inspector, presuming that your home inspector can get out soon.

One thing that might not work in your favor is when the first rain came -- sometime after June 2009 -- and whether or not you have already had repairs done. If repairs were done, that usually destroys any evidence and makes it extremely difficult to prove that the Seller or home inspector knew anything or should have known something.

Make sure also that you read your home inspector contract, in detail, as well as your home inspection report so that you'll know exactly what the home inspector did and did not do. For example, here in San Diego, if the attic is full of storage -- which it often is -- and I can't get into the attic, then I make sure in the report that I tell my Clients that I did not go into the attic so a complete inspection of the attic and the underside of the roof was not done. You need to look for disclaiming and excluding language in your home inspection contract and the report.

Keep me informed and I'll try to continued to guide you through the process so that you might be able to save some money here and there. Also, if you need me to look over the inspection contract and report, I can certainly do that for you.

Hope that helps.

Russel