Seepage in basement after sale of flip

[Jill Drebing]

We purchased a home on April 26th this year.  It was a vacant foreclosed home being sold as is.  Had a sale inspection with City, posted escrow and proceeded to rehab the home.   Completed all required repairs and updates.  Listed house in August, house under contract in 19 Days.  Home inspection completed, repairs requested completed & closed October 11th. October.  October 14th area was hit with a flash flood and City took in 5-6” of rain water in less then 24 hours.

Buyers now want to sue us because they claim we never disclosed seepage in basement.  Basement was bone dry for the time we owned property.  Said we lied and covered up repairs. Never repaired because there were no issues.  The flash flood caused a lot seepage and water in the basement.  We don’t understand how we can control an act of god and at what point is a closed deal done.

Anyone experience anything like this? 

Any advice?

Thanks

[Jon Holdman]

The reality is that when you sell a property you incur some liability from the sale.  Its never really over.

The question is, do they really have a case against you?   When selling a property in a case like this, you need to take care in filling out the property disclosure.  You've only owned the property a short while and have never occupied it (I assume), so you know much less about it than if you had lived there 10 years.  That should be reflected in the property disclosure.  Was it?  As far as covering up repairs, was there some evidence of water intrusion that you covered up?  E.G., painting over water stains?  Even if it was dry the entire time you owned it, if there was some indication there had been problems in the past, you should have addressed that or disclosed it.

If there was no evidence there was a problem, and your disclosures are clear that you're only making claims about the short time you owned it you should be in the clear.   If you were aware of an issue or possible issue and in some way hid it and didn't disclose it you may have a problem.  And threatening to sue is not the same as suing.