False Advertising (agents, closing, sellers, buyer)

[Silverfall]

Attorneyville all around...

[Austin-Willy]

Originally Posted by derrickske

yes an inspection was done and the inspector said that i was on city sewer.

Sounds to me like your issue is with your inspector. If the seller made a representation that you were connected to the city sewer, you could possibly have some recourse against her. But in some states if you have an inspection done yourself, you are, legally speaking, required to rely on your own inspection and not the seller's rep.

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by derrickske

A dye test was done and nothing showed at the manhole. that confirmed that i am on septic. The house was appraised more because of the connection to city sewer. Alabama.

Interesting. Here we would just have the guy stick a camera down the cleanout and he would be able to see where (or what) the connection was to.

personally, I'd rather be on the septic system to avoid the charges imposed by the wastewater agency, but c'est la vie!

[derrickske]

Well i see your point but when we saw the listing from the real estate company for the house it read city sewer connection. When we bought the house all the paperwork said city sewer. I trusted that we were on city sewer till we had the toilet overflow and i found out the hard way.

[Annemieke Roell]

I really don't see how this can affect the value of your house significantly, if at all.

[SewerCowboy]

In Tennessee, the value of the home is significantly impacted by the use of septic systems vs. municipal sewer, for two main reasons.

One:
Take this home as a prime example...the system has not been maintained, and has actually been neglected (homeowner didn't even know it was there.). Routine inspection is critical to the success of any on-site treatment and disposal system, as well as preventive maintenance. Typically, septic systems are "get it, and forget it...till it smells!".

Two:
A public sewer connection allows the property to be expanded (additional Bedrooms, a guest house, pool house, etc.). A septic system will make these additions much harder to get, if they are at all possible. State design criteria for subsurface disposal will dictate if suitable area exists to expand the current system. If soils don't exist to expand, then no expansion = less value to the property.

Regardless of the value impact, the home was represented to be on public sewer, and I would contact a Real Estate Attorney to determine what recourse is available to you.

[Austin-Willy]

Originally Posted by SewerCowboy

Regardless of the value impact, the home was represented to be on public sewer, and I would contact a Real Estate Attorney to determine what recourse is available to you.

The buyer had an opportunity to do his own inspections, and they indicated that the house was on public sewer. In a perfect world, the buyer wouldn't have any recourse against the seller, since the buyer made the same mistake the seller did.

[SewerCowboy]

Originally Posted by Austin-Willy

The buyer had an opportunity to do his own inspections, and they indicated that the house was on public sewer. In a perfect world, the buyer wouldn't have any recourse against the seller, since the buyer made the same mistake the seller did.

Here, though, I believe it has to do with accuracy in disclosure. I could agree that "buyer beware" may apply here, but I have seen several instances here where the court sided with the buyer because of false/misleading information from the seller and agent on the exact same issue that we are discussing.

But, any attorney worth anything will just sue everybody involved to make sure they don't miss something (ha-ha).

I do believe that your point has merit. But, if I had bought the home under the pretense that it was connected to public sewer, I would exhaust all of my options. I'm just saying that a consultation with an attorney is definitely a worthwhile option, in my opinion.

[Austin-Willy]

Originally Posted by SewerCowboy

Here, though, I believe it has to do with accuracy in disclosure. I could agree that "buyer beware" may apply here, but I have seen several instances here where the court sided with the buyer because of false/misleading information from the seller and agent on the exact same issue that we are discussing.

But, any attorney worth anything will just sue everybody involved to make sure they don't miss something (ha-ha).

I do believe that your point has merit. But, if I had bought the home under the pretense that it was connected to public sewer, I would exhaust all of my options. I'm just saying that a consultation with an attorney is definitely a worthwhile option, in my opinion.

I don't disagree with you. If the buyer wants to pursue it, they may have a case. This is, after all, the nanny state (country) that we live in, where no one is responsible for being diligent themselves because it's always someone else's fault.

[derrickske]

Update, the realtors are now in a hurry to change my septic service over to city sewer. Should i let them fix the issue or seek council? Thanks.