Hail damage found out after closing (disclosure, insurance, property, legal)
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After closing we found a lot of people replacing their roof and when we inspected our roof we did find hail damage that occurred 2 month before closing. It wasn't found in the inspection nor the seller declared in Sellers declaration. Now they are not replying to any of our emails .
Question should we take legal action or wait for the next hail and then file a claim with our current insurance company. We changed our insurance 1 month after we moved in and we filed a claim with previous insurance company and they rejected it saying ur previous insurance should take care of it..
So I don't know if our current insurance will say after the next hail storm that this roof was damaged when previous storm happened and will reject our future claim.
Do you have any proof that the roof was damaged between inspection and closing? Is it old? Was it replaced recently? Just because your neighbors had their roof replaced, does not mean you need your roof replaced.
The roof was damaged 2 months before closing and it wasn't caught during inspection. Also the seller didn't declare in the sellers disclosure. We checked our roof and found hail damage.
The only insurance company that would be responsible for that damage would be the insurance company that covered the house at the time of the hail storm... If your insurance company now finds out about the damage I don't think they will be responsible for that damage either, even after another storm... I would suspect they would want to deduct previous damages from their claim payment.
I suspect it varies by company whether or not it is too late to file a claim with the company that covered the property at that time, not sure if there is any legal protection that would state the company that assumed the risk at that time is still responsible?
The prior owner may have owned the property free and clear and chose to self insure.
The prior's owner's policy may or may not cover all storm damage, including replacement costs.
The prior owner may have had his roof inspected and no damage was found.
The prior own may not be aware of hail damage and therefore has no reason to disclose.
Most policies have a time limit for claims.
I would call my own insurer about making a claim. They know who the prior insurer was, if any and can advise you how to proceed.
Be aware that there is a lot of fraud related to hail damage claims. Just because a roofer ( often a " storm chaser" )claims there was damage does not necessarily mean there was. Insurance companies know the size and direction of hail in any given area. They will typically inspect the gutters and siding, too.
After closing we found a lot of people replacing their roof and when we inspected our roof we did find hail damage that occurred 2 month before closing. It wasn't found in the inspection nor the seller declared in Sellers declaration. Now they are not replying to any of our emails .
Question should we take legal action or wait for the next hail and then file a claim with our current insurance company. We changed our insurance 1 month after we moved in and we filed a claim with previous insurance company and they rejected it saying ur previous insurance should take care of it..
So I don't know if our current insurance will say after the next hail storm that this roof was damaged when previous storm happened and will reject our future claim.
Please help!!!
Adi
The only way to win a legal action against the sellers is to prove non-disclosure, meaning that you need to prove that they knew about the damage and purposely did not disclose it. The most likely explanation is that the sellers had no knowledge about the roof damage and therefore had nothing to disclose.
Were you at the home when you got it inspected? Did your inspector get on the roof and check the shingles? This should have been caught during your home inspection. If it wasn't, its possible the inspector missed it, or the damage occured after your home inspection.
Or did you buy the house in the winter in a snowy climate? Winter inspections in my area often say that they were unable to inspect the roof due to snow, so that is an exclusion on the inspection. Same for sprinklers and other yard things, like grading, as well as air conditioning.
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Caveat Emptor
