Legal Question in Real Estate Law in District of Columbia
House Flooding
I recently purchased a remodeled house and the previous owner dug a foot deeper in the basement, says he installed a perimeter drainage and sump pump. Since buying 4 months ago, in the last 3 rainfalls our basement flooded. We had some waterproofing experts say that the drainage system was not installed properly if it is flooding. The prev owner did not use a qualified company to install it (he was the contractor himself), but a 3rd party inspector approved the final plumbing permit (drainage was already covered, etc). Can I go after the previous owner even if I bought it ''as is''? He was the contractor who was responsible for the work, and our inspector would never had known if the system worked or not at the time of our inspection. The day after I moved in, the prev owner said to me during a major rainstorm ''Have water in the basement'' in a joking manner. At the time I did not, but later that night, I did. He had to know that there was water issues, but never indicated in the disclosures.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: House Flooding
The seller's mere knowledge that there were "water issues" with the property which you purchased from him with an "As Is" disclaimer and his subsequent failure to disclose them to you as the buyer would not give you a viable cause of action against him (in my opinion) unless you could prove that he lied or misrepresented the matter in response to your direct questions or engaged in other activity to affirmatively conceal the problem to prevent you from discovering it. (There is a Virginia Supreme Court case decided in 1994 which essentially states the above in its decision, Van Deusen v. Snead.)
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