Expert: Dick Dennis - 5/15/2006

Question
I recently purchased a home in which the seller disclosed exactly the following--"Back left corner puddles after rain (heavy rain).  Drains in matter of days."  Well, needless to say within the first month of owning the house we had 4 occurrences of flooding in our backyard.  Rather than puddling, we have a small pond measuring approximately 16ft x 40ft and 18 inches deep.  I had to purchase a pump to expel the water to the curb because it didn't drain.  I spoke to the seller, and he claimed he had no idea the problem was so severe.  I find that a little hard to believe as he disclosed in the conversation that he also owned a pump to drain water.    We are in Texas, and I do not believe the rain fall we have seen recently would be considered excessively heavy.  My question for you is what degree of liability could the seller potentially have?  Is this a "buyer-beware" situation given his partial (and loose) disclosure?

Sincerely,
Randal Dahl  

Answer
Absolutely not, Randal. There is no more "buyer-beware." Virtually every state in the union has laws protecting the buyers from unscrupulous sellers.

I would contact the seller and ask him to pay for correction of that problem since he knew about it and told you that "it would drain in a matter of days." What did he mean, two years of days or no more than a week's worth of days? A judge would ask that question, too. Keep your receipts for correction (and pictures, too) of this problem because you should take this guy to small claims court to have him reimburse you.

I do wish you well.

Dick Dennis