Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida

Hidden defects,

We purchase a 1959 house in palm county

6 months ago . We add our genral contractor do an examination and nothing important came up.

We did a 100 000$ re model

After 3 months in the house we start having seewage problem

We had the plumber do a camera inspection of all the sewer pipe

He discover that the cast iron pipe are in an decomposition stage

The estimate to ding under the house and replace all the sewer pipe is 42 000$

We are from Canada in our law that would be considered has a hidden defect and the seller would have to pay the cost

Is their any provision in the florida law that would adress this situation

Thank for your advise

Sorry for the english we french speaking


Asked on 2/11/13, 5:33 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
David Slater David P. Slater, Esq.

If you can prove the seller knew of the defect and failed to disclose it, you would have a claim.

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Answered on 2/11/13, 6:37 pm
Barry Stein De Cardenas, Freixas, Stein & Zachary

The fact that your general contractor did an examination and nothing came up makes the concept that this was a known defect a little more difficult to prove. Unless they also had sewage problems that they had to deal with, then you are going to have problems proving this in court. Did the camera inspection reveal any work that had been done in the past? This may help. Did you ever ask the former owners if they had plumbing work done and if so, who did it? You may get valuable information form them without notifying them yet of the potential claim. Lastly the claim against them is only as good as they are now collectible. Keep that in mind as wel. Seek some actual legal advice.

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Answered on 2/12/13, 5:12 am


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