Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
being accused of real estate fraud
I am the home owner who sold a home, during the home inspection the inspector found foundation issues, the buyer brought in two stuctural engineers to look at the foundation. I had my own estimates I gave the buyer the middle estimate. We agreed on a credit, which we gave them a check, we closed. The buyer waited 6 months to correct the problem, the foundation became worse. The buyer then called every engineer in the area finding the other two estimates one higher one lower. In addition several yrs back I recieved an estimate to reinforce the foundation to put on a second floor. The buyer is stating that first they should have recieved a new property disclosure after the home inspection. In addition they are misstating facts about the proposal regarding the reinforcement. The architect and contrator found no issues with the foundation. The engineer that told me to reinforce the foundation is now stating he told me that regardless if I put a second floor on or not the foundation needed to be reparied. None of his paperwork shows any type of language stating this, nor did he tell me thi In addition his esitmate is $70,000 more than the other three engineers, which were all between 5-10k. Its my word against his basically.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: being accused of real estate fraud
It sounds like you have no liability HOWEVER in order to be sure, you should have an attorney review all your closing documents to be sure. You are not required to do a new disclosure after an inspection and, generally, a buyer is liable for his own issues as long as you were upfront about what you knew to be true at the time. It is also difficult if not impossible for the contractor to get evidence in about oral agreements outside of a written agreement. Talk with an attorney.
Re: being accused of real estate fraud
Ah, tis the stuff that makes law suits! You need to see a lawyer soon, whether it be myself or another lawyer. Like they say, this ain't gonna be easy.