Inaccurate Seller's Condition Report

[Michael Doll]

I recently purchased my family home last August 2021. We had made an offer to the listing and were lucky enough to get an acceptance on our offer. We had waived our inspection as the market is hot in our area. 

Here is where things get interesting during our walkthrough I had pointed out that the 1930's full brick garage had structural damages that would need to be fixed. I had pointed this out to the seller as on their Wisconsin seller's condition report that had checked "No" to the question worded "Are you aware of defects in any structure on the property?" 

They had declined any structural damages upon my inquiry and did not offer a credit to our offer as a sign of goodwill. Now that spring has rolled around I was able to have a contractor come take a look to bid the job to rebuild the brick wall as there was an obvious 3 foot large hole along with brick erosion near the foundation of the structure as you could see dirt from the neighbors garden falling into the garage. This will cost roughly $10k to fix, which I had foreseen fixing, but was hoping during our original closing that the prior owners would offer up some funds to assist in the fix. 

Now that i own the home do you think I have a legal standing to ask for a reimbursement of funds from the prior owner for them misleading my purchase on the conditions report when answering "No" to any structural damages. This would have lead to me offering a lower amount to purchase the home? I'm curious if they could be legally obligated to the partial or full payment of this structural fix to provide the home to us in the condition they had originally presented on paper (no structural damages).

[Bill B.]

Hey didn’t say there was no structural damage, they said they didn’t know of any. 

Before closing you pointed out visible damage and asked for financial help repairing it. They said no and you closed anyway. You then go on to say you expected you would expected to have to repair it. 

To have a chance in court I think you would have to prove a) they knew about the damage AND b) you didn’t know about the damage. 

Doesn’t seem likely if they remember you pointing it out. Just pretend the house was $10k more expensive with some recent foundation work and you would probably have bought it anyway. Don’t let this wreck your experience.