Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

We bought our house in May 2010. At the time, there was a small grassy lawn, about 8 X 10 ft., between our driveway and step. What seems to be a sinkhole started to develop next to the driveway, about 1 1/2 ft, very slowly over time (a yr). In 2011, we decided to remove the grass and put down mulch and added a metal plate in the sinkhole area only to find out the previous owner(s) had filled it with all kinds of things, probably to prevent more sinkage. A year later, the sinkhole came back, about 1 1/2 ft. We decided to have the lawn paved, hired a contractor to see if it the sinkhole would get deeper, he said no as he pour cement down and it didn't go anywhere. Today in 2013, you can tell the sinkhole has begun again as the pavement is sloping inward toward the bottom. Can we hold the previous owner(s) accountable for selling us a property and not notifying us of this issue?


Asked on 11/18/13, 1:36 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Arnold Nager Arnold H. Nager, Esquire

It depends. If you received a $500 credit at closing from the seller, it would have been for not providing disclosure of known issues. Ask the lawyer who ahndled your closing.

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Answered on 11/18/13, 2:17 pm


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