Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Re: Sellers misrepresented

Your problem presents an interesting legal question, which I recently dealt with in a similar case (concerning defective building materials). The short answer is 'yes,' generally a seller (and its agents') misrepresentations made in the P&S DO survive and remain actionable after the closing and the passing of the deed (when disputes as to TITLE usually are deemed extinguished by the concept of "merger" by the pasisng of the deed). You would have to show that you reasonably relied upon the misrepresentation in deciding to purchase the property. (You can do so; as you say that you might not have chosen to buy this house had you known of the mice issue).

Having said that, however, your damages are not very significant. The remedy is probably your ability to make the seller/agents pay to eradicate the rodents; at best, you are entitled to the difference in value (if any) of the home as misrepresented ("no" rodents) and the home in the condition in which you bought it (mice problem).

Both damages models here are susceptibel to attack by reasonable defenses that (1) you could have discovered the mice problem but failed to do so (i.e., the traps and sonic devices were not hidden and were findable), and (2) it is not unforeseeable or totally unexpected that real property might reasonably be inhabited by mice or other rodents from time to time, and the problem is somewhat 'open and obvious' or inherent to residential living (depending on location). For these reasons, you might simply seek to try to hold the seller/agents accountable for the cost of eradicating the rodent problem as full and final settlement of the dispute. I don't see that you can expect to obtain damages significantly greater than this, simply because they misrepresented the existence of rodents in the P&S documents.

Re: Sellers misrepresented

I am sorry to hear of your problem. Whether it was the sellers or their realtor that checked "no" on the disclosure form is relevant because most P&S agreements, by offering the right to a full home inspection, pass liability for defects that the inspection would have revealed to the buyer, UNLESS you can show that your reliance on the disclosure statement caused you to forego the inspection.

Consider retaining an attorney to look at all the relevent documents and advise you whether you may have a CASE under the consumer protection law, keeping in mind you must disclose the mice problem to any future buyer, and whether your damages warrant bringing that case.