You moms that speak legal-ese... NBR/long
So I bought a house through private sale under the impression that, even though the woman had a dog and a cat in the home, she kept it in pristine condition. We were told by this woman that she even shampooed her carpet once a week and never smoked in the house.
Well now that we are moving in, we have found that the dog and cat hair in the carpet is INCHES thick (literally, meaning she never even vacuumed, so much as shampooed, and all of this is hidden by the color of the carpet) and the walls are yellowed (evidenced by the white spots where she took down the items she had hanging on wall).
Do we have any type of legal ground on this? Can we get any of the money back? It wouldn't be a big deal to just clean it up, except I have to work all this week, and we HAVE to move Saturday because my landlords have someone who has paid July rent and will be moving in as soon as we can get out. I won't have any time to super vacuum (which, I have to get a new one because we BLEW OUT the motor on our current one with the mess of dog hair in the carpet- how did I never notice this?!!) and the walls need painted before I can move in furniture (our gun cabinet and entertainment center are solid wood and large which = heavy and never being moved once they find a home).
As is moving/home buying is not stressful enough...
Re: You moms that speak legal-ese... NBR/long
I'm sorry you're dealing with this. If you have allergy issues, you probably need to replace the carpet and repaint. (You probably should do that anyway, but I know that's easier said than done.)
Did she make her statements in writing? (Statements re: shampooing carpet weekly and never smoking.) Did you actually view the house yourself? Or did you buy it sight unseen?
Honestly, any recourse you have would involve reimbursement for your expenses. That could include a storage unit, hotel room, carpet cleaning, etc. I don't think you could even get that, though, unless those items were clearly a condition of sale -- so they'd have to be in the contract. Typically, there would just be a price adjustment in the sale price, or there would be a provision that the seller would replace the carpet and paint before the buyer takes possession.
Good luck.
Hey, I found a website to inform people of their rights when they buy a home "for sale by owner." Here's what I found:
https://www.highdivehost.com/fsbolawcenter/legal_contract.htm
According to the website I found, many states have a requirement where the seller must disclaim info about the house, but it varies by state to state. Also, did you have a home inspection contingency, or was it word of mouth? If it wasn't written into the contract, you may have a hard time proving that you didn't agree to buy the home "as is." You may need a lawyer to get some compensation...
OH AND TAKE PICTURES BEFORE YOU CLEAN ANYTHING! I don't care if there's a mound of dog poo on the floor, you need to take pictures with a time/date stamp before you clean.
THANKS LADIES!
Sorry I took so long to respond, but my MIL is painting my walls and she had a paint emergency.
And I did see the house before I bought it, and it was extremely low price. I guess I just did not look close enough at everything- I was so amazed at the price she was selling it for- H saw it too. I think we were just so desperate to buy something, we had the proverbial rose colored glasses.
And there were no inspection contingencies or contracts- we just went to the bank and signed everything over and they wrote her a check. The only other parties involved were the insurance sales man and the county appraiser. Again- my own dumb fault.
I doubt a lawyer will be worth the money considering you saw what you were buying. Good luck with the clean up! I'm sure it will look great soon.
Yeah, we are finding a lot more- mold in bedroom roof corners and the only half of the stove top ranges work. The A/C went out on me yesterday evening while I was trying to vacuum up the living room... I am waiting to get there this evening and find out what won't be working today.
You get what you pay for, I guess... Thanks!