Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

Basement Water
My jusband and I purchased a home in May of last year. The day we moved in, our new next door neighbor informed us that the basement used to flood all the time. A few days later, my basement was wet. Now we had to figure out how the water was coming in. We made holes in drywall to see if we could find anything. Dug trenches outside, put in new drain tile. We had to cut our patio to reseal the foundation. These were not all done at once. It was kind of a trial and error and see what would happen on the next rain and see if we would get water in the basement. My husband did all the work. When we called PermaSeal, that had no clue on how the water was coming in. We called a contractor, and he wanted to rip out entire perimeter of house and raise ground.....Thousands of dollars for that. We spent $500.00 but lots of months of waiting to get our basement in order. My question is that the seller did not disclose this problem. Infact just today I found out from the person who built this home and sold to the people that we bought from he disclosed to them that the basement leaked and may not be fixable. Can I sue them for more than just the amount we put into? We wouldn't have bought. We have allergies too.

Asked on 1/11/08, 5:31 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Nicholas Chrisos Nicholas G. Chrisos Attorney at Law

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Re: Basement Water

Regarding a Real Property Disclosure Form (IL law mandates that you should've gotten one when you signed a Contract with a copy of the law itself attached to the Disclosure form), you generally have a 1 year statute of limitations to sue for a misrepresentation on it. In other words, dig out the "Residential Real Property Disclosure Report" and see what's checked off on #2. If it says the Seller is aware of flooding, you may have a hard time suing. If it says the Seller was unaware of flooding problems, well you've got plenty of evidence otherwise. That's one avenue, but you have until May of the year after you purchased (one year).

You may also have an action based on negligent or intentional misrepresentation or breach of contract. The statutes of limitation on those actions range from 2 years to 10 years. But your best bet is probably the Disclosure route, so talk to a real estate attorney ASAP.

You can contact me if you have any further questions.

Answered on 1/14/08, 11:25 am

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