Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Utah

Responsibility of Seller's Disclosure and Buyer's Inspection

My wife and I purchased a home on 4/15/02, however were not able to gain access to 4/19/02. We had an inspection completed in 3/02, however upon move in we discovered several issues that neither the seller nor the inspector caught or disclosed. My question is the house needs major repair due to mold and water damage, however we closed on the 4/15/02, who is responsible and who should we go after for the home to be fixed? Furthermore, if we had known about these new but old issues with this home we would have not purchased it. We have had the home reinspected and the new inspector flagged evenmore issues not disclosed. What legal action due we had available? Please help and advise!!!


Asked on 4/26/02, 1:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alvin Lundgren Alvin R. Lundgren, L.C.

Re: Responsibility of Seller's Disclosure and Buyer's Inspection

As a general rule your inspection of the home is supposed to reveal defects. The seller will claim that you had ample opportunity to discover and will disclaim liability. You can make the seller pay if you can prove that the seller knew or should have known about the mold/mildew problem. A seller has a duty to disclose defects in the house about which the seller knows. You have a problem here because if your inspector did not notice them, they may not be readily apparent. Get a price on the cost to repair the damage and approach the seller about sharing the cost. If you can obtain evidence or witnesses who can testify the seller knew, then you have a good case to take to court - and either force a rescission of the sale or force the seller to cover all of the costs to cure the problem.

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Answered on 4/26/02, 11:08 am


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