Expert: liznarr - 8/1/2006

Question
My husband and are selling a home we purchased 2 years ago in Rochelle Park, NJ. The house has  built in swimming pool. This area was flooded during Hurricane Flloyd. The seller did fill in a disclosure statement, but never disclosed that there was 6 feet of water in the basement, and other minor things. Our prospective buyer is having several inspections done, which we were never advised to do by our realtor, specifically a pool inspection. We just had a normal, home inspection performed.  The buyer just gave us the report from a reputable pool company:  >Pool Inspection  Mechanical Hayward Filter (DE48), Super Pump (3/4), Heater (350) and light.
Comments:
Plumbing lines, in-house circuit panel and pool winter & solar cover not tested or inspected.
Light junction box loose on deck.
No bond wire on heater.Incorrect bond wire on pump. Wrinkles in liner & dirt on the bottom of the pool.Heater not ardwired.
Stranded bond wire on pump.Unable to inspect steel walls behind liner, but it appears the liner has floated and "Floyd" flood damaged neighborhood area, so the structural walls could be damaged.Licensed electrician should inspect pool bonding prior to using the pool.

We were totally shocked to find this out and fear that the prospective buyer will either back out of the deal or ask for an astronomical amount of money to fix the pool. Do we have any recourse to go after the previous homeowner, is there a statue of limitations. Who should I write to about this, we are extremely distressed.  Thank you for any help.

Answer
Hi Maureen,

So sorry to hear what you have just discovered.

The long and short of what you are describing is nothing short of fraud, which is INTENTIONAL misrepresentation.

Following is a link to a site that will give you general info on disclosure:
http://www.ired.com/news/lieberman/030223.htm

Yes, you certainly do have recourse to go after the previous homeowner if he owned/lived in the house at the time of Floyd, had the damage you now suspect, and failed to disclose.  If the Realtor representing you at the time of your purchase did not properly advise you to have a pool inspection done, you might have additional recourse there.  

I would suggest that you contact a good attorney in your area for advice on how to proceed because it sounds like you need good legal advice.  Have all your disclosures you received ready for the attorney to review, along with the inspection report you received a copy of.  You should also get a couple estimates to repair the pool and present these to your attorney, also.

Different states can have different statutes on limitation periods, but an attorney should be able to give you specific information for New Jersey statutes.

You might want to do some homework on your own and ask neighbors if they know anything about the situation and see if you can determine who the former owner’s homeowner’s insurance company was and whether or not any related claim was filed.  I believe there might be a common database somewhere kept by insurance companies for claims not only by policyholders, but by property address.  Call your insurance agent and see if he can help you with this.

One last thing you might try before going the attorney route is to present the estimates to the former owner and demand payment.  If he was the type person to misrepresent in the beginning, don’t expect much of a response; but it’s at least worth a try.  You can also involve the Brokers-in-Charge of each real estate company in your demand.

All of the above will take time, but your attorney can advise you about going ahead and making repairs and then filing a lawsuit – if this is what you decide to do.  Now that you have been made aware of the problems with your pool, you are obligated to disclose this information to all future prospective purchasers.

Good luck to you, and write again if you have additional questions.

Regards,
Elizabeth Narr