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first, its not just a leak, a 14'x6' section of roof is missing, mind you, I have a 'flat pitched' hot tar roof that was supposidly inspected prior to sale and said to be "good". We've had pieces of the roof falling off over the past few months but wasnt sure what it was till now.
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Problem for you. The inspector and others can all claim the roof was O.K. at time of inspection.
You say parts of the roof kept falling off over the past few months and you did nothing including not checking to see what was wrong.
They can claim it was O.K. at time of inspection but wind or something caused damage after you purchased the home, and when parts of the roof started falling off you should have checked to see what was happening and you did not, but just kept picking up the pieces in the yard without checking to see what the problem is. They would say a problem occurred after you bough the home, and it was your negligence over a period of time just picking up the pieces and not checking the roof, that caused this extensive problem.
Example: In our town, there was a big hail and wind storm that destroyed half the roofs in town. We knew there was damage when we found some shingles in the yard. We immediately called out a roofer to inspect the roof, and the insurance company bought us a new over $11,000 roof two years ago. As we had an inspection when we bought he house that showed the roof was in good condition at time of purchase, and the roof suddenly was badly damaged we had a legitimate roof replacement claim. If we had done nothing, but for months just keep picking up singles as more blew off, we would never had been able to put in a claim.
This is kind of where you are. There was an inspection that said the roof was O.K. Later for months, part of the roof kept tearing off and blowing into the yard and you did nothing except picking up the pieces and throwing them away, which means you were not checking to see if there was damage which happened over a number of months till rain started wetting the inside of the home.
The seller and the inspector can claim it was O.K. at time of purchase but something occurred since you bought the home starting to tear the roof, and over months wind, etc., kept tearing more and more off. They can call this negligence on your part, as when the first sign of damage finding parts of the roof in your yard you should have inspected the roof personally to see where the roofing materials were coming from. It would have been a small piece that could be patched at time it happened, but your letting the problem to keep increasing over a period of months without inspecting the roof to see where the roofing parts were coming from let it develop into a huge problem.
The questions you would be asked is: When you started finding parts of the roof in your yard, why did you not get up there to find where they were coming from? Why what could have been a very small problem when it first happened and easily patched, why did you just pick up the pieces and do nothing about checking the roof?
You would probably find, that there is no legal claim against either the seller or the inspector. AND, it was your failure to do due diligence when the the roof developed a problem to find the problem when you had to know there was a problem when you found roof pieces in your yard happening time after time, and not checking to see where they came from. The owner and the inspector, would put the responsibility for all that damage to occur right back on you.
Make complaints, or sue for damage to the roof, and this is probably be their argument it was your fault. They would just say the roof was O.K. at time of purchase, and that for months you had been just picking up pieces of the roof and did not inspect to find the problem. When you buy a home, there are things you watch out for, to maintain your home. You did not do that, and now a huge part of the roof and etc., are damaged as you did not jump on it when the problem first showed up (parts of the roof falling into the yard).
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