Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Property Management Liability

I suppose you could consider a small claims suit against the seller, the seller's broker, and your own broker. Each of them owed a duty to you. The duty of each was somewhat different, but they boil down to a duty to disclose. In the case of your broker, the duty was to investigate and disclose. Their defense will be that they relied upon the termite inspection report. Possibly the report was erroneous, or misread. Possibly there are termites elsewhere in the complex, but not in your unit, and the report only covered your unit.

Unless you can plead and prove a failure to disclose, and recollect the $3,600, your next best hope is to find something in the HOA rules that relieves you of liability to share the cost of repairs affecting only a few units, or to put it another way, that affects some units but not yours. Unfortunately, most of the rules aren't written that way, but it's worth giving them a careful read.

Re: Property Management Liability

A strong letter should be written to the Board of Directors. Your real estate broker should have noted any problems with termites as well as the seller broker. Normally, a termite report is required by a lender or by escrow instructions. Please call us if we can assist you further.