Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Georgia

Seeking to sue home owner
We bought a house from a relocation company but negotiated all repairs with the previous owner ( that owner also provided a disclosure for us that indicated there is nothing with the house).
Basically, after the negotiations, the owner sold the house to relo and the relo sold it to us.
When we moved in we discovered the following:
1. After the first rain there was water in the basement which caused mold to grow on the basement wall.
2. The floors on the ground level are sloping towards the middle of the house. There is a diagonal settlement crack on the door. There is also another part of the house where the floors are sagging quite a bit. We know that the previous owner knew about the water entering the basement because we're using the same gardener he had. When we told the gardener about the water in the basement he said ''Come I'll show you were it's coming from''.

Can we sue the original owner despite the fact that we bought the house directly from relo and only indirectly from him? We have no proof that he knew about the structural problem ( sloping floors, settlement crack) but can we use the fact that he lied to us about the water in basement to claim that he knew about the structural problem as well?

Asked on 12/23/07, 5:56 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

0 users found helpful

0 attorneys agreed

Re: Seeking to sue home owner

With so many issues, and posts, see a lawyer who can review the documents. Some (not all) issues he/she will discuss are the problems trying to sue someone other than the seller, the fact that some alleged defects may be easily discovered with a visual inspection, the gardener likely does not speak for the prior owner, and your contract likely has a merger clause (to be discussed with the lawyer).

Answered on 12/23/07, 6:50 pm

Mark as helpful