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Bought a home and listing did not indicate a septic. A neighbor told us. In less than a year after purchase the septic has to be replaced. Agent said "I thought you knew". Do we have any recourse on recovering some of the septic expense from the agent?
Bought a home and listing did not indicate a septic.
Is there a water well as well as a septic system?
Ultimately caveat emptor (and common advice to hire an attorney when buying) applies...
but if this VERY pertinent detail was hidden you may have an argument.
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Agent said "I thought you knew".
Sellers agent? Buyers agent?
Did you have the property inspected? Is there a written report?
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Do we have any recourse on recovering some of the septic expense from the agent?
I see this as an all or nothing situation.
Either no responsibility to the previous owner or their agent (for not declaring)...
and/or no responsibility to the buyers agent for knowing but not making such clear...
or yeah... they knew it and hid it or were all grossly incompetent for not making it all clear.
If the last... you could get substantially more than the cost of the septic work.
I'll call the odds of this happening at 20:1
Sorry, but it sounds like you're looking for someone else to blame because you didn't do your homework. It's also unrealistic to buy a used home and then expect to not have problems after you own it.
The cardinal rule is that you never believe anything you hear from a real estate agent. Go to town hall or wherever and check things out. Buying a home is one of the biggest investments of your life. Most listings have a legal caveat that doesn't guarantee all the information is correct.
The second rule is to take home inspections with a grain of salt. Our inspector -- a very highly-regarded professional in our region -- basically gave our home a clean bill of health and we still had to put six figures worth of infrastructure improvements into it. We could have wasted our money trying to sue the inspector. Instead, we sucked it up, made the improvements and didn't look around for someone else to blame.
In your state- is there a question about the sewer system in the disclosure document?
This was my thought as well. Our property disclosure form clearly says whether there is a city system or a private system, and if it is a septic, what the date of the last pumping was. If your property disclosure says it was a septic system and you signed it, then it was disclosed, even if you missed it. If there is a spot for it, and it is not filled out correctly, then the prior seller has liability. If the form doesn't have a spot for it, your state may not require disclosure of that.
If you had a home inspection, it should have been on the inspection report. If it wasn't (not if you missed it, but if it actually was nowhere on there), then the inspector could have some liability as well.
In my opinion, the prior seller could have liability if it must be disclosed, and they lied on their form. The inspector could have liability if they missed it on their report. Proving agent liability is more complicated.
usually a home inspector isnt qualified to do a spectic system inspection. One of houses we're looking at has a septic system and we need to hire a septic system company to come assess. There are a lot of different septic systems out there. We got a 7 page report on the platting and how it works from the sellers since they replaced it last year.
Bought a home and listing did not indicate a septic. A neighbor told us. In less than a year after purchase the septic has to be replaced. Agent said "I thought you knew". Do we have any recourse on recovering some of the septic expense from the agent?
Let me get this straight - YOU didn't do your homework and didn't ask if it had a septic system, but you want the agent to help pay for one that wore out "less than a year" after the purchase?
usually a home inspector isnt qualified to do a spectic system inspection. One of houses we're looking at has a septic system and we need to hire a septic system company to come assess. There are a lot of different septic systems out there. We got a 7 page report on the platting and how it works from the sellers since they replaced it last year.
I agree that the inspector may not have actually inspected the septic system. But their report should at least indicate septic vs sewer, and if they didn't inspect it, it should recommend that the buyer get it inspected.
Bought a home and listing did not indicate a septic. A neighbor told us. In less than a year after purchase the septic has to be replaced. Agent said "I thought you knew". Do we have any recourse on recovering some of the septic expense from the agent?
How do you buy a house and not know whether it is on a septic system or municipal sewer? That seems like a pretty fundamental thing to find out. Do you also have a well--or are you on city water?
Regardless, what did the disclosure form indicate? Is the "agent" your buyer's agent or a seller's agent? Did you have an inspection done prior to purchase? Did you have an attorney? More info, please.
Did you not read your mandatory disclosure notice? (unless this is a foreclosure with no disclosure)
Did you not receive an inspection? Did you view the house in person? You didn't notice those big, circular lids in the yard or the box that usually has a red light on top for an alarm?
Why do you feel the agent would be responsible for you not doing your due diligence. Agents disclose what they know, and if the listing agent listed the features of the house wrong, why is that your agent's fault? It's not an agent's fault to do due diligence, just disclosure material facts that they're aware of about the property.
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