I am wondering about disclosure rules when buying a house. We bought a house almost exactly a month ago. When we looked through it, we found a crack in the basement wall. We asked about it and were assured that the crack was merely superficial, no water had ever leaked in.
Well, can you guess? Today it rained and we have definite leakage. At first we resigned ourselves to paying for the possibly costly repair until someone mentioned that there is a grace period for things like this and the previous owners may be on the hook.
Sorry, but I don’t give legal advice on specific cases out over the internet. Neither my employer nor my insurer would approve. :mad:
You don’t say what jurisdiction you’re in, but I would suggest you call the Law Society in your province/territory. Their number should be in the phone book, usually with a 1-800 number. Most Law Societies run referral systems - you explain it just like you did in your post, and they’ll give you the names of 3 or 4 lawyers in your area who could likely handle it.
Then, you call one of those lawyers to set up an appointment - most firms nowadays offer a free initial consultation, for 30 minutes or an hour, to give them some idea whether your problem fits their area of expertise, and to give you some idea whether you want to retain them. If the consultation at the first one you go to doesn’t help, try the next one on the list.
I may be too bad but I think the old “buyer beware” applies. I agree with Northern Piper, contact a lawyer. I used Fred Klien here in the Peg (he’s Downtown on St Marys). when I closed on my house here.
You may have something however because you "asked about it and were assured that the crack was merely superficial, no water had ever leaked in. " If you were assured that no water had ever come in… hmmmm you MAY have something.
Did you have a home inspection done when you made your offer on the home??
What area of the City are you in??? There are parts of Winnipeg that are notorious lots of shifting when the ground gets wet (especially that Manitoba Gumbo soil that we have here).
