Re: Date on Disclosure incorrect

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There is a distinction between a contract clause and a
Warrantee. First it appears she substantially complied with
the terms of the contract. Even if she didn't, upon
acceptance of the deed by you the contract merged out of
existence. Second; In the unlikely event that she warranted
in the deed that the basement would not leak, you may have a
claim but it has to be in the deed.

Now there is one other saving grace to check out; There may
be an implied warrantee of "habitability and quite
enjoyment" under Ohio law which attaches to your deed for a
limited time. It is a common law concept and would require
searching Ohio case law on the subject. I don't have time to
research Ohio law at this moment. Anyway, chances are that a
leaky basement would not rise to the level of a breach of an
implied warrantee of habitability and quite enjoyment.

Unless the deed specifically warrantees that the basement
won't leak, you may be out of luck in claiming damages or
voiding the transaction.

On 11/30/07, Laura wrote:
> My new husband and I just purchased our first home in Ohio.
> We bought the home in September. We paid for a whole home
> inspection prior to purchasing the home. The seller was an
> elderly lady who was moving into a nursing home, but seemed
> to be of good health at our closing. She signed all the
> papers, talked to us, chatted about certain "features" of
> her home, etc.
>
> On her disclosure papers she stated that, "Cracks in
> basement walls allowed water seepage but were repaired 10
> years ago". We requested a receipt of repairs in an
> addendum to the contract, which she provided at the closing
> of our home. Like that day, at the table, with the title
> agency there, ready to sign papers.
>
> We have now lived in the home for over 3 months and EVERY
> crack in the basement leaks. Our first line of action was
> that we called the repair company, who came out and looked
> at the cracks he "fixed". When I say fixed....he charged
> this woman $8,000 to repair 4 large cracks. EACH of them
> has leaked multiple times since we have lived here. He said
> for $500 more he could install a drain in our backyard to
> take pressure off of our foundation, but never addressed
the
> fact that the cracks were leaking.
>
> So, then we called another foundation company and had them
> give us an estimate to repair the leaks. $5,800! They COULD
> NOT believe that he charged that much for the repairs, and
> that the basement needed new drain tile, the cracks
> re-repaired and the outside soil needed to be fixed. They
> said for the amount of money he charged, they should NEVER
> had leaked again.
>
> After relaying this information to our Realtor, she advised
> us to contact a lawyer and see what our option are. I
found
> one, faxed him all the paper work he requested. In the
> process, I discovered that the date on the basement crack
> repairs was 8-1-03!!!!!!!!!! That is not 10 years ago!!!
> That is a little over 4 years!
>
> If her disclosure stated 10 years, and the repairs were
done
> 4 years....this is not accurate information that she
> disclosed. Does this void her credibility? Does this
cause
> the contract to be "untrue"? Could this help us out???
>
> Also, on the disclosure it asks "If owner knows of repairs,
> modifications, or alterations to the property or other
> attempts to control any flooding, drainage, settling,
> grading or erosion problems since owning the property (but
> not longer than the past 5 years), please describe"
>
> Well, when the crack repair man came, he had to bring in
> dirt to re-direct the run-off from the roof. A back hoe!
> She did not disclose this information either...
>
> Help!!!! I am waiting to hear back from the attorney, but
it
> is now Friday, and I don't think I will hear anything until
> Monday.