You have bought a house that you hope will be the home of your dreams but find out that the house has serious defects. The house is “sick”, and you feel that the seller took advantage of you. Mold, sewer, water, or basement wall leaks, sagging beams, the list can be extensive for dream-wrecking problems with a sick house.
And then you run into it. The Latin language. The lawyer’s defense. The incantation that is supposed to make you go away and not bother the seller.
You will hear the words: “caveat emptor.”
Latin for “buyer beware.” this legal doctrine is often raised by sellers of sick houses.
What does buyer beware mean? In the sale of houses, it means the buyer has a duty to carefully inspect the house and property before purchasing. If in a reasonable inspection of the property, the defect was or should have been discovered, then the buyer may not complain about the defect.
The buyer’s duty to inspect is helped, but not fulfilled, by having a professional home inspection done prior to purchase. We will talk about home inspections in a separate article.
Buyers also need to use caution in relying on residential disclosure forms. If the defect was able to be discovered by an inspection, the disclosure forms may not be helpful.
But, the seller does not have the right to lie or conceal a defect. An intentional failure to disclose significant defects, especially to conceal the defects, is called fraud and the seller can be held liable for that deceit.
If you have questions about your house, please contact YourHome.Law for a consultation to discuss your house. 614-324-3654
Attorney Thomas D. White