Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

What is the statue of limitation on a negligent of the Buyers Agent not disclosing an updated septic inspection report to the Buyer at signing? We were informed by the county of Santa Cruz recently that our septic system was reg tagged and that we would have to do repair or replace the system. We were not informed nor did we know that our septic system was a failed system before we purchased in July 2019. We had paid for a septic inspection to be done before purchase and received a carbon copy of a report from the inspector. He said he would return to the property next day to preform a flow test and let us know the results. Our agent claim that she emailed us a copy of the update report but we did not receive it nor did we sign off on that report at signing to acknowledge that we received the updated report. We only signed off on the original report that we received from the septic inspector.

This is an issue because it will be costing us thousands of dollars to fix the septic leach field to make it right with the county.

Can we make a claim regarding this and receive compensation for the costs we will be incurring to replace the leach field?


Asked on 6/09/23, 7:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

There are various possible legal theories under which you could sue, with differing limitations periods. For a July 2019 closing you are definitely but barely within the limitations period to sue for breach of the contract with the broker. You may be within the limitations period for professional negligence and negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty and perhaps others, depending on whether the limitations periods on those claims are extended by the specific facts of the case. You should contact a local lawyer right away. Time is running out.

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Answered on 6/10/23, 11:09 am


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