Just bought condo and found water large amount of water damage when tearing up the bathroom floor what to do?
March 11, 2010 by
Filed under condo water damage
i dont know who i should go after to pay for the damages
March 11, 2010 by
Filed under condo water damage
i dont know who i should go after to pay for the damages
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Consult with a real estate attorney. I hire an inspector before I purchase. However, if the owner concealed it, or even not, you should take action. The seller doesn’t want to be sued, so you may be able to work out a deal, if not, sue.
Sue ya later!
Well, under Oregon Real Estate law when you buy a property you buy it ‘as-is’. I am fairly sure it is the same is most states. That is why a good home inspection is very important. Once you’ve closed you’ve signed away any right to go after the previous owner.
Now, depending on where the damage came from your HOA may be liable. A good thing to do is to have your home owner’s insurance to be the same company as the one the HOA uses. Otherwise you can get caught up in problems where the source in unclear and both companies refuse to pay.
If you’re tearing up the bathroom floor that means that you had a reason to do so; it was spongy or apparently rotted, otherwise you would not be tearing it up. You must have seen this before you purchased the condo. I assume you inspected it, you didn’t buy it sight unseen. Perhaps you paid a Home Inspector, if so they could only Gage whats on the surface, the rest is Latent Damage(can not be diagnosed because it couldn’t be seen).
So who do you want to sue? The seller? The Realtor? A Home Inspector? It sounds to me like it’s your problem, your floor and your responsibility. To think otherwise shows your ’sue mentality’ and is pretty crappy.
It depends upon several factors. If it is purely within your condo (as with the floor of the second story in a townhome), it’s likely your responsibility. If it’s part of the boundaries of your unit, it may be the Association’s responsibility.
If it’s your responsibility:
Did you buy a condo homeowner’s policy (HO 6)? It should be covered.
Do you have reason to believe the seller knew about it?
Do you have reason to believe the seller’s agent knew about it?
Do you have reason to believe that your buyer’s agent should have known about it?
(You obviously did not engage a building inspector, but if you had, they would probably be the easiest target for a lawsuit)
Talk to an attorney. NOW.
to be honest this is not as expensive as you think to fix this problem
I do water and fire restoration and I am going to tell you what to do
1st get 3 qoutes for the LABOR ONLY to get this fixed
2nd go with the middle price
I would demo the sub floor myself that will save you hundreds of dollars in demo fees and dumping fees
(demo means DEMOLITION)
3rd order/buy all the materials yourself
(this will save you at least 50% of the total invoice)
Drywall, tile and wood are all VERY cheap @ Lowes or HD
4th buy a 70 pint dehumidifier (175-200 dollars) and set the drain hose where it will drain to the toilet for several days ASAP
this will get rid of 5-7 gallons a day of moisture
that is still in that house, remember that the water that is still in the subfloor condensates and WILL come up in the air and the dehumidifier gets that condensation out of the air
I like Kenmore or GE by the way..you can get this on ebay or sears
you basically will have $7500 worth of work for about $1200-1500
I can give you more advice if you contact me
remember we do Flood and Fire mitigation EVERYDAY
morton101@comcast.net