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I am at my wits in and hope you can help. Bascially my mother purchased a property in Marion county, Indiana about 3 years ago. Back in June 2008 when the floods were disasterous in the midwest her entire basement was flooded. In the midst of trying to repair all the damage it was discovered, behind drywall, previous major water damage to the property. We can even see old caulking that was placed to cover the damage..it was horrible to say the least. Previous owners owned the home for 15 years. Seller's disclosure states no previous water damage. I feel my mother has a huge case and should begin suing the sellers. My questions...
Does she have a good case? Also, I have been searching for an attorney for a long time and can't seem to find one...most cover commerical real estate issues, zoning, etc. Does anyone have ANY recommendations or referrals they can provide. We are desperate at this point. My mother is retired and has used all her money to fix this "money pit" of a home.
Melia, you need a real estate attorney. Some ways to get help: call real estate agents in your area and ask them who the "good" real estate attorneys are. Or, you could call the legal help line if your city/town has one. the only way to know if there is a case is with an attorney. Anyone can sue for anything, but to recover can be difficult. Sounds like you have some evidence of a cover up... bring that evidence with you to the attorneys.
Good luck this is a hard case. You have to prove that the sellers knew of the water damage. What's to say the house wasn't sold to them in the same condition? I hope you work this out, it is not an easy situation.
You can call MIBOR to ask about real estate attorneys, maybe they will know someone? You can find their number at mibor.com
However, I think you will have a hard time finding proof that the sellers knew about it. Or, perhaps they "fixed" it and thought that was the end of it. Those storms were way more rain than we have had for a long time. If you believe something isn't an issue anymore, I don't think you have to disclose that.
If she's been in the house for three years, good luck proving it didn't happen after she bought the place. Did you have a thorough home inspection done? That should have turned up something like this.
If the seller can claim s/he had a reasonable belief the damage was repaired, you probably don't have much of a case. The standard Indiana seller's disclosure form only ask whether there "are" water or moisture problems in the basement, not whether there is any previous water damage. And if the homeowner reasonably believes any previous problems have been fixed, there generally isn't a duty to disclose.
You also have an issue that the damage in this case was caused by a "disastrous" flood that probably would have flooded the whole basement, regardless of the previous damage. This isn't going to help your case, because you would need to show damages tied directly to the failure to disclose. If in three years you haven't had water problems, and they only became evident when the entire basement flooded during a period of historic rains, the previous repairs probably aren't the cause of the flooding.
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