Potential Plumbing/Structural Lawsuit

[Scott Scotter]

Hey BP. I'm wondering if you guys can give me some legal advice. 

I just purchased a house a month ago, and after moving in, I noticed that the toilet in the second floor bathroom is not level. There is a cabinet in the hallway that allows for inspection of the plumbing, and after further inspection, the joist that the shower sits on is cut to allow the drain line for the shower to fit. This is making the entire floor sag. I brought in a structural engineer yesterday, and he confirmed that this was the issue and it needs to be fixed. I will need to cut open the ceiling in the kitchen to fix the problem. The engineer said it will probably be 2-3k. 

The home inspector missed this issue, along with a bunch of other issues. He missed two large cracks in the basement, a severely bowed piece of wood above the window in the same bathroom that needs to be reinforced (probably another 2k), the washer wasn't working, etc. etc. I should have seen a bunch of these issues myself, but that is why I hired the home inspector, and he missed all of them. Needless to say I am not using that company again. 

Do I have anyone I can go after for these issues? Home owner, home inspector, etc? 

The previous homeowner moved out of the house in 2008 and has rented the house for the past 9 years. I'm sure this hurts my chances since allows him to say he wasn't aware of the issue, but the bathroom is severely slanted and very noticeable. The toiler is slanting 1 inch per 18 inches. I would assume a tenant would have brought it up. 

Also, the home inspector missing it probably hurts my chances even more, but the home inspector was extremely negligent and missed 5-6 major issues with the property. The engineer was amazed that he missed all of these things. I most likely would not have bought the house if the home inspector caught all of these issues. 

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks BP!

[Mike McCarthy]

Not a lawyer - but typically the home inspector is liable for only the cost of the inspection. You'd have to prove gross negligence to get more out of him - though most/all inspectors do carry errors and omissions insurance.

Similarly the prior owner, again unless he did something intentional to cover up the defect, you bought the house 'as is' as of the day of closing.

I would though recommend giving the inspector a call. A number of home inspectors would appreciate the honesty to talk with you and potentially improve their inspections. (Even though he probably won't be offering to pay for it all). It doesn't hurt to have a 5 min conversation to see what options exist.