Surprise Septic Tank

[Daniel Kinka]

I've recently learned about a real estate situation and thought I'd post it on here for advice.

I know of an off market single family purchased last year in Missouri. One of the sellers is a Missouri agent. The buyers agent and the seller both work under the same broker. This deal took less than 30 days to close. After closing, it was learned the house was on septic. This came as a surprise to everyone. The two sellers claimed they had no idea, as they only owned it a few months during rehab before it was rented (owned about a year, tenant in place most of this time). When they were asked why they didn't notice not paying a sewer bill, the response was "our secretary paid the utility bills so we didn't notice".

The sellers did opt to not disclose anything about the sewer.

My questions are these. Does the buyer of this house have any recourse? Should a Missouri real estate agent have noticed a house they owned was on septic, and disclosed that? Should the broker have called the city to see if a sewer bill had ever been sent to the house? Is the "our secretary paid the bills" excuse legit?

From what I understand the septic system is damaged and must be repaired. Can the sellers or broker be on the hook for any of this?