Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts
Disclosure of ''defect'' that caused water damage
we bought our house in july. the house is near a lake, and part of it lies in a 100 year flood plain. we did buy flood insurance on our house. the disclosure read: some lenders may require flood insurance. When we asked about flooding, we were told that no flood claims had ever been filed for the property. We asked the seller about any water damage. We were told that water ''seeps'' into the basement during the spring if there is a lot of snow/rain. The seller showed us that he'd sealed the area of the basement where the water comes in. There is a closed in patio in the front of the house that is lower than the street and yard level. When I asked about this area, he explained that it used to be a driveway, and that all the water in the patio drains out to the storm drain on the street. We had a thunderstorm a couple weeks ago, and the storm drain backed up into our patio. We had 6 inches of water in the patio that began gushing through the cracks in the basement door. Our basement flooded. Our neighbor told us that this happened on numerous occasions when the seller lived there. He never mentioned this when we asked him about water in the house, and drainage for the patio. Are they liable to pay for fixing the problem?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Disclosure of ''defect'' that caused water damage
Yes. Retain an attorney.You may have a claim for misrepresentation and possibly for a violation of the Consumer protection law if the broker participated in the misrepresentations. Good Luck!