HVAC broke a year after I sold, Buyer wants me to pay?

[William C.]

Long story short, we popped the top on a rancher, and rebuilt the home from the ground up. The GC hired a professional HVAC that he works with on all projects to install the HVAC. The day after settlement the buyers contacted us saying the AC didn’t work. We looked into and found it could not be charged with Freon at installation, so the professional went to the property and charged the AC. Now we are almost a year from settlment. The buyers agent has contacted me again, complaining about issues with the HVAC system. They sent me a report which I forwarded to our GC to look at and hopefully address the problems. But my question is, am I even liable? I’m trying to do the right thing, and make sure they have an operating HVAC. It was installed brand new so it certainly should not be having any issues this short into its life, but there has to be a point where the seller is no longer on the hook for issues a buyer faces. I’m in PA, if anyone wants to refer to state laws. Iv been in RE for 10 years and have done over 100 transactions and never had a buyer contact a seller after settlement, let alone a year later to ask for $14k to replace an HVAC system we paid $8k to put in under 12 months ago. Buyers did not perform a home inspection prior to settlement. The township did inspect the property as needed to satisfy permits, certificate of occupancy, etc. I tried to keep this short but failed. While I’m at it I’ll mention the new HvAC guy is Saying a 110k unit is too large for the 2200 square foot home and wants to replace it with 80k unit. We are in a cold climate, and while the home was renovated, it’s Bones are still 100 years old, which I’m told requires a little more BTU than a new construction ho e would. Any and all input and perspectives are appreciated.

[Russell Brazil]

There is a lesson here for flippers.....NEVER let a buyer, buy your flip without an inspection.   In my market....probably 50% of homes are sold without inspections, but if Im flipping, or one of my clients is flipping....if an offer has no inspection clause, we counter back that they include one.  This protects you on the backend from stuff like this.  They cant then ever come back and say we didnt get an inspection because it was all supposed to be brand new.