Can you be bought

Others, such as aging plumbing, the seller might have told you about in the course of the sale. In most states, laws require home sellers to disclose all "material" defects to prospective buyers. Then after the sale, your home probably continued its normal process of aging and decaying, leaving you to deal with the consequences.

None of these sorts of issues provide any grounds upon which to run back to the seller to complain. Will your insurance company cover the damage? If so, there may be no need to take action on your own. Even if you think you've been wronged, you can't sue everyone who was involved in the sale of your home. The home seller is the first one to consider, of course.

As mentioned, nearly every U. This responsibility remains even if you bought the house "as is. The form usually asks the seller to state whether the property has certain features like appliances, a roof, a foundation, systems for electricity, water, and heating, and more and then to rate or describe their condition. Some states' disclosure laws are more comprehensive than others, and if a feature isn't on the list, the seller might not be required to speak up.

Also, the seller isn't usually required to scout out problems. If there's clearly a place on the form where the seller should have stated a problem but denied it, your job is to try to figure out whether the seller in fact knew about it.

For example, if the seller patched over or hid problem areas, or if the neighbors have told you about the seller's efforts to deal with a problem, the evidence is on your side. And even if you're in one of the few states with no mandated seller disclosures, it might be possible, particularly in an egregious situation, to sue the seller for:. Some states' laws make sellers' real estate agents liable for failing to disclose problems they observed or were told of by the sellers, though often their duties are fairly limited.

Check your state's disclosure laws and try to figure out whether the problem would have been apparent to the broker, but not to you, before the sale. Hopefully, you got a home inspection before buying. In theory, the inspector should have spotted problems that the seller wasn't aware of, or was turning a blind eye to. If the inspector missed problems that an expert a professional peer should have noticed, the inspector might be on the hook; that is, legally liable. Read over your inspection report to see what it said about the area in question.

Some buyers are embarrassed to find that the problem is spelled out right in the report, or falls within an area that the inspector rightfully excluded from the report.

But in other cases, the inspector failed to meet basic standards of professional competence. Once you've figured out the possible responsible parties, you'll want to know whether their action—or inaction—might entitle you to compensation.

If your situation meets the criteria below, you might have a good case. We've collapsed a few legal principles into this list, but it will apply to most situations in most U.

Even if you think you meet the above criteria, remember that in an actual lawsuit, it will be your job to convince a judge. Hence the more evidence you can start gathering, the better. In legalese, you could potentially sue someone based on any of the following principles, or some combination of them:.

Filing in small claims court allows you to proceed with your case without a lot of the expensive administrative hassles of a "regular" lawsuit. You can represent yourself in some states, attorneys are actually forbidden , the rules are typically not as rigid, and your case should be resolved relatively quickly.

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Problem with a subscription? If you already requested a refund Check the status of your refund request. Published Date: July 06, Yes No. Tips on buying a used car. Choosing a safe vehicle. Buying or selling a vehicle Factsheet Menu Menu. Home Vehicles Buying and selling a vehicle Buying a vehicle. If you've bought a vehicle You must let us know straight away by: putting the vehicle into your name online, or going to an agent and completing the Change of registered person - buyer MR13B form.

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