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I purchased a home in September this year. The home has a septic system with a bad drain field. I obviously did not know this when I purchased the home (I wouldn't have if I had known). The disclosure was all I had to go off of and the sellers checked off that there is no problem with the septic system.
Now that we have been living there for a little over a month, the tank has filled and water is not being dispersed because of the bad drain field and has been backing up! I had it pumped, not knowing what else to do, and the neighbor came over to talk and said to me that the previous owner/person residing there definitely knew about this but the 3-party (3 children) owners did not fix it for their mother who was living there because of money issues, or whatever the case may be. The point is that I am certain they were aware of it, and because of other things I can say with some certainty that they are pretty sketchy people. The neighbor also told me that the tank was frequently pumped because of the system not working properly. Point is, he said that for sure she was aware of it.
What action should I take to hold them accountable for this? The problems I foresee are that it was the mother living there and not the children that actually filled out the disclosure and they will simply say they weren't aware of it so I will have to prove it. I hope that the company that pumped the tank (I know who it was because the neighbor told me) will provide me with records stating they were informed of it, but I can't be sure they will have it, do it, or be willing to get involved.
I know I will need an attorney, but would like insight from here also. Should I contact the plumber, or have the lawyer do it? I'm back and forth on this because I could just kind of play along like it's no big deal and try and extract information/service records (they might think of it more like a sales opportunity this way), but like I said I think they kind of "knew" this woman, so I don't know how willing they will be to provide me documentation that the drain field was bad and they informed her of that. That's what makes me think I should have an attorney make initial contact with them to strong arm them to not provide false information. I don't know which way is best.
I guess the first question I would ask is "What is is going to cost to fix this problem?" You will then be able to make an intelligent decision regarding how to proceed. Right now you are angry. But lawyers are expensive and investigating this is going to take up a lot of your time. It may not be worth it to spend $10K to solve a $3K problem.
No, the disclosure is just the stepping off point on the trail of due diligence.
Tell us, what did your attorney said when he reviewed your purchase contract?
What did he say, or your RE agent ftm, about inspections to be done
and conditional clauses to protect you in these VERY common matters?
You are telling me that if they were aware of the septic issue, and still knowingly provided false information, that I am out on my own and they have zero responsibility to repair it? I'm not asking for anything more than they fix what they falsely provided information on. What exactly is the disclosure for then?
To the best of my knowledge, there is no absolute way to know that the drain field part of the septic system is bad by inspections performed in due diligence.
They lied and if that does not matter two months past going to the closing table then this is one f'ed up industry. I believe they are responsible to fix it, only since they lied and I made my decision to purchase based off that disclosure, and if they are responsible to fix it, then they should pay my legal fees, because they made this decision, and that is now a part of of having the issue resolved.
But it sounds like the only "proof" you have is the word of the neighbor. For one, they'd probably have to testify/submit a statement. And I'm still not sure if that's enough.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no absolute way to know that the drain field part of the septic system is bad by inspections performed in due diligence.
You can have the drain field inspected. They test for saturation as the unsaturated soil is what is needed for proper cleansing of the bacteria. It costs more than just a tank inspection. Out here I think is is about $500 to test the drain field and $125 to test the tank.
You are telling me that if they were aware of the septic issue, and still knowingly provided false information, that I am out on my own and they have zero responsibility to repair it? I'm not asking for anything more than they fix what they falsely provided information on. What exactly is the disclosure for then?
They lied and if that does not matter two months past going to the closing table then this is one f'ed up industry. I believe they are responsible to fix it, only since they lied and I made my decision to purchase based off that disclosure, and if they are responsible to fix it, then they should pay my legal fees, because they made this decision, and that is now a part of of having the issue resolved.
It isn't an industry issue. Its a legal issue. The burden of proof is on you. So, is the kids say "we didn't know." What proof do you have to contradict that? They don't have to prove their innocence. You have to prove their guilt. It is a much harder burden than it might seem at first.
Whether or not legal fees are recoupable depends on what your contract says. In our contracts, they are recoupable, but what did you agree to in terms of conflict resolution in your contract?
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