Legal rights on Disclosure statement

[herbster]

Hi Legal guys and gals,
I bought a new home in mid July 2007. A beautiful home but with a hidden problem. 3 times we had downpours of rain where water entered through the basement window wells. Each time I tryed to fix the problem myself and thought all will be OK the next time. Well along comes winter and everytime we get a major snow melt the basement floods again. Its been 7 times now and we're pretty ticked off. I approached my realtor on this because the old owners signed the disclosure that there was no problem with water in the basement. He replyed that unless I could prove that they knew about the problem that there was nothing I could do. Well it just so happens that this area of the basement is finished and looked good to us and a home inspector when we bought it. But there is no way in HEEL that they didn't know there was a problem. To date we have removed the drywall that was still wet and found black mold. Its going to take some major excavation and drainage to prevent this again. Do I have any legal recourse here? and whats the best way to approach the old owners? Oh yes they even put silicone along the bottom of the baseboard molding.Thanx Herbster

[Bill H]

Do not know about your legal problems with the disclosure. Sounds interesting though that they put silocone sealant in to stop the "leak?"

As to the window wells, are you are talking about the big windows that may be used for egress (exit) from the basement in event of emergency and they go almost to the floor.

Most all of them I have seen use a large galvanized piece of steel that looks like a large culvert cut in half as a concrete form for the rim. In Montana I have seem custon designed plexiglass forms that will fit over the window well and prevent such from happening. Also keeps the leaves and grass from falling in...along with the other critters of the night!

Lets in light, etc just keeps the rain, snow and critters out.

I am sure you should be able to find the same in Oklahoma.

[herbster]

Actually Bill I'm in Michigan. I do have the galvanized piece with the plastic cover. Problem is the ground gets so saturated with water that the water actually comes up from the bottom. Now I have tryed to aleviate the problem and I siliconed the shoot out of the window, problem here is that silicone does'nt seal on moisture wet or frozen areas in the winter. Bottom line here is that THEY LIED.

[Jim FL]

herbster,
Frankly, I highly doubt there is much you can do with the previous owners.
Sure, you can sue, every one can.
thing is, the cost, is it worth it?
Most likely not.

Now, as for the leak, work that backwards.
Where's the water coming from?
Rather than work on sealing the leak, make the leak go away, then seal.

try sloping the land outside the window away from the house, and perhaps install some drain tile with gravel to take the water away from the house.
After that, take care of sealing the window, etc.

Only after the moisture is dealt with, will it make sense to finish the interior again.

HTH,
Jim FL

[herbster]

Yes I have to aliviate the problem before I re-finish my basement, thats the major excavation part in my original post.
As far as sueing I intend to, small claims court has a 5K ceiling that should be more than enough. Now does anyone have any answers to my original questions, an attorney maybe. thanx

[Debbie]

We do have an attorney here however, I seriously doubt he can help you much. He is a Georgia attorney, not licensed to practice in Michigan.

I'm sorry.

You'll have to contact your local attorney to determine if you have legal recourse or not.

[Bill H]

Sounds like a similar problem I had with a wet screened in porch. Every time it rained I got all sorts of water into and on the porch. Pestered the pee-waddling out of me.

Finally I went down to Lowe's (No Home Depot here) and bought some aluminum guttering...put it up and BINGO...got rid of the water and no more problem.

Hope your solution is as simple