Small Claims Court - Seller did not disclose leaking skylights

[Timothy Hillyer]

I bought my house 11 months ago in June, in August when we started to get rain, I noticed that the skylights were leaking, both of them and it wasn't a small leak. The original disclosure from the owner's stated that there had been skylight leaks, but they had been repaired. Obviously not true. If I hire a contractor to fix it, it will costs $2k-$6k. I may be able to fix them myself for $1k not including my labor.  I never really considered small claims court. I thought my only recourse was to get a lawyer and it wasn't worth it to do that.

To complicate things more, when I bought the house, it was being sold by an investor on behalf of the owners. From what I gathered the house was in poor repair, investor came in and paid for the repairs in exchange for most of the profits from selling the house.  So I don't know where the initial owners are (there were 3 of them- from their names appeared to be extended family from Vietnam), but they are the ones that signed the disclosure form. So do I sue the seller (who was the investor) or do I sue the owners or do I sue both? 

I don't really have any evidence that they new about the leaks accept that I noticed the leaks for the first time after there was heavy rain within 2 months of buying the house, but now 11 months have passed since I purchased the house.

If I was going to go forward with this I would just get a quote from a contractor on how much it would cost to fix it and bring that to court as the amount that I want to collect in damages.

[Curt Davis]

Cut your losses.  You should have hired a home inspector.  Als you would have to prove they knew about the leak not being fixed.  It is possible to pay someone to make a repair only to find out later it was not fixed.  

IF you can get it done for $1,000 just eat it. 

Good luck