Who’s Guilty ?

Picking up where our last post left off: You moved in and the basement starts leaking with the first good rain. It continues to leak with every rain over the next several weeks. You conclude this is positively not a first time thing due to the extreme volume of water coming in. You’re thinking that the previous owner had to know this condition existed. You’re also thinking you paid good money for a complete home inspection and the inspector didn’t do his job by failing to find this problem. So with shop vac in one hand and your trusty mop in the other you say to yourself, “somebody is going to pay”

Your investigation begins by calling the home inspector. He tells you there was no visible evidence of water intrusion when he conducted the inspection. He also says there was no rain at all that given week, so it would be impossible to tell if there was a foundation leak. Besides, everything in the basement was clean as a pin and there were no telltale signs of water intrusion. He said he noticed some new baseboard and a fresh coat of paint, which is nothing unusual. Sellers just about always make repairs and add a fresh paint job before they list their house for sale.

Even though everything the inspector said made sense, you aren’t fully satisfied or willing to let him off the hook just yet, at least not until you speak with the prior owner. You remain polite and end your conversation by saying, “I’ll be back in touch”, thus leaving little doubt that you are not going away easily. Your next move is to contact the seller…stay tuned to see how that goes.