Home inspection warranty, I brought a new home and my oil heater is leaking what can I do?

Question

I just purchased my first home 5 months ago. When the people came to do the home inspection they checked the air conditioning and I don’t remember if they checked the heater. I purchased the home in the summer time. Now that its winter I am using the heater and it is leaking very bad and it is causing fumes in my home. Is there anything legally I can do to make the previous homeowners liable for covering the charges for a new oil heater? I called the lawyer I used for my closing and I am waiting for a return phone call.

Answer 1

Its funny how everyone jumps right to the lawsuits...

The sellers ARE liable if they knew and didn't say.
The Inspector IS liable if it was obvious and he didn't catch it. (and the heating system is a MAJOR part of an inspection).
The buyers agent IS liable if he didn't check it out or if he missed a 'red flag'.

There are 3 different stages to this. FIRST, you may have a Home Warranty Policy (common on re-sale homes, good for one year). These are pretty typically provided by sellers and are essentially insurance policies that cover this kind of thing and keep all of us out of court. Give them a call (your agent or atty will have their info) and they will send out a technician right away. It will cost you about $50 for a service call fee. This is not your homeowners policy - it is a separate one year policy.

SECOND - raise hell with your agent. In cases like this the squeaky wheel gets the grease. You do not need an attorney at this point. Give the agent(s) and the seller an opportunity to make this right. Let them deal with the inspector (they always give that limited liability crap, don't believe it). You should be able to get this fixed because it wasn't properly inspected/disclosed.

THIRD - Have your agent set up a mediation. This is better than court for you because it is informal. At this point you should consult an attorney, but 90% settle before this.

Good luck

Answer 2

Call your realtor and talk to them. Usually when you buy a home it is not covered under a warranty if someone else has lived in it. If it were a brand new home it would be covered under the builder and be fixed free of charge. It sounds to me like you have a serious problem if fumes are coming into the living area. I would call a heating and air conditioning person right away and have them come out to see what the problem is and have it fixed instead of waiting for a call back from the lawyer. I doubt the other people will have to pay for it though, you are now the homeowner and it is your responsibility for any repairs. Home inspections are not necessarily to see if appliances and the furnaces are in working condition, they are more to look at the foundations, electrical, etc. things like that. Unfortunatly if the furnace had a problem there is no way of proving it.
Good Luck.

Answer 3

No, the sellers aren't liable. If you had a home inspection then the heater should have been inspected at that time, regardless of the season. You need to contact the people who did the inspection and the company who issued your warranty. They should come out and fix the heater for a small fee.

Answer 4

If there is any money to be gotten it is from the Inspector. Somewhere on that paperwork it will tell you that they are only liable for the cost of the inspection. It may not have actually been leaking at the time of the inspection.

What you can do is get yourself a home warranty policy. It costs under $500/year, and covers things like that. Visit http://www.ahswarranty.com for more info.

Answer 5

As I home inspector, i can tell you the responsibility of a home inspector is to state the condition of visible and accessible components of a house and its systems AT THE TIME of inspection. Five months later, anything can happen.

This is a commen misconception , however. If I go to the doctor for a physical exam and am decalred to be in good health, but I develop a health problem 5 months later, there is no responsibility of the doctor to have anticipated that.

Answer 6

You'll have to check with someone in construction or an attorney that handle this type of issue. In my state, MI, we are limited to the cost of the home inspection, @ $250.00. Once they've given their OK, the previous owners are off the hook. I found this out when the 3 story, south wall of my house was falling away from the rest of the house. I had to pay to have the foundation permanently re-piered. You may want to talk to your insurance agent too, but do it carefully, they're geared for not approving claims.

Answer 7

If the section became dry for the duration of the homestead inspection then i'm uncertain this is a few thing you fairly would desire to anticipate the inspector to discover. i'd depart him out of this, i do no longer think of you may tutor he failed in doing his activity that's only one thing any homestead inspector would desire to have ignored (they are no longer suitable). with regard to the past proprietor, sure they'd desire to've known approximately it and that they did fail to show it. i'd say you have a quite stable case against them. i'd take photos of each thing and then take the past proprietor to small claims courtroom for the deductible. actual i'd've advise getting bids for this and taking the owner to courtroom for the whole bid quantity (and not reporting it on your insurance) as your insurance expenses would perhaps circulate up once you renew - yet to late for that now.

Answer 8

read the inspector's report...there should be reference as to
what they inspected and the recommendations given...

I really don't think the sellers are on the hook for anything after
closing, cause this matter should have been handled before transferring title.......some monies should have held in escrow
until all repairs had been completed.