Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Re: Real Estate - Home Warranty

The AHS warranty specifically excludes "commercial" appliances, although an argument could be made that if you are using it strictly for personal cooking, it should be covered. These home warranty policies have many exclusions, and you have to read the policy carefully to see what you are up against. For example, in addition to the "commercial" exclusion, they will refuse to recover a repair if the repairman they send out determines that the appliance or system has not been properly maintained. For example, if you have a furnace repair and haven't changed the filter--watch out! There is an appeal process in the AHS policy that you could pursue, and if you have to replace the range, you could bring a breach of contract action against AHS--maybe they'll agree to a settlement.

It would be difficult to prove that the seller and realtor were sufficiently conversant with the terms of the AHS policy to be held accountable for this exclusion--the seller offered it as a marketing tool suggested by the realtor and never saw it in all likelihood.

If a service tech could establish that the problem with the range predates your occupancy of the premises and the seller should have known about it, and you couldn't have discovered the problem via an inspection, the seller can be held responsible. But again, that would be hard to prove. Something might have been on the verge of failing, but didn't do so until you took over the property. The sellers will undoubtedly say they were having no problems with it.