Maynard, MA asked in Real Estate Law for Massachusetts

Q: Should a builder have disclosed detention pond near condo house?

I bought a new construction condo house 15 months ago that I am supposed to close on, in a few days. The plans and agreement showed that there is a wetland in the area far from my house but a vast green area beside my lot which was the main factor to choose this exact lot. For the last few months, I had been noticing that there is a large wide hole right outside my house (8 ft away) that is almost throughout the length of my house. It was brought up to the listing agent couple of times and was told that it will be filled in spring and not an issue. During final walkthrough, it was disclosed that the hole is a detention pond and will not be filled. We are blindsided with this new information, as we definitely didn’t want/ expect to live anywhere close to water and expected a leveled landscape beside our house. Do we have any recourse from the builder as none of the drawings given by builder showed this detention pond? If we had known that the lot was 8ft away, we wouldn’t have bought.

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1 Lawyer Answer
Christopher Tolley
Christopher Tolley
Answered
  • Boston, MA
  • Licensed in Massachusetts

A: You should review this with your attorney as soon as possible to review all the facts and documents because you may have the basis of a claim. If you do not want to go forward with the purchase you should establish a strategy and get input from your attorney on the costs and benefits of litigating the issue.

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