Q: Can I sue my real estate agent and inspector?
I purchased a home in 2013, I saved for 5 years for Vinyl siding. Now that the contractor has started he has found all kinds of rotten wood that took years to rot. He said the inspector should have found all of this with his inspection. It is coming up to 40k to get fixed. What can I do? Who should I call? I live in VA. They have a lemon law for cars what kind of law do they have for homes?
LC
A:
As to the Seller or the realtor, the question will be whether the rotten wood was known or should have been known and whether it was concealed by the Seller or the realtor. If you didn't know about it for five years, you might have a tough time proving that they knew about it, but I can think of facts that would meet that burden, like construction that covered up the existing problem but was not intended to remediate it.
As to the inspector, you need to start by reading the contract, and, again, there is a bit of concern about what took you five years to discover it if it was so obvious. Most inspection contracts clearly exclude opening walls or other covered or concealed areas. But, the only way to evaluate this is to pay a lawyer to review the contracts and the setting.
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