Q: Is a home seller required to disclose heavily infested roaches in the basement?
Recently got this house, I discovered it was heavily infested with this huge roaches which wasn’t disclosed to us. Do I have a case ? Is the seller responsible or I’m out of luck ?
A:
Probably no (out of lock) unless you had a specific provision for it in the sales contract designed to survive the closing to hold the Seller responsible for any damage or expenses incurred in connection with the newly discovered infestation.
Seller usually has the obligation in NYS to present Property Condition Disclosure Statement to the purchaser, but often times the obligation is waived by giving an additional $500 to the purchaser as part of the closing adjustment. Even assuming you received the Statement signed by the Seller, the alleged "roach" infestation may not be deemed a material defect subject to the disclosure requirements, and it's possible that the Seller didn't know of (or simply deny) the alleged infestation.
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