County property violation from previous owner

[Kent Meentemeyer]

Hello,

I’m looking for anyone that has ran into a similar situation that I’m facing.

So I purchased a property in august of 2020. I’m in the middle of rehabbing this property. There is a creek that runs through the property that had concrete walls on it and they looked like they may need repair in the future. I didn’t think much about it other than I may have to fix them or pull them out and grade the creek.

I received a letter in mail from the county in October 2020 stating I had violations due to the dilapidated concrete walls. However the original violation date was back in may of 2018.

I now have gotten quotes to fix this creek for around 10k+. The seller did not mention any violations from the county on the disclosure.

I’m now finding out that there may have been litigation regarding this with the previous owner and the county but I’m still trying to research and find this out.

What kind of recourse do I have? There was no county lien so the title company wouldn’t be at fault? My agent could not have known there were issues either.

[Chandler C.]

Definitely sounds like a pretty crappy situation. The disclosure statement wasn't accurate and the seller had prior knowledge of an issue, so you may have standing as your agreement was violated. And I also agree with @Peter Kozlowski. Best to consult with a lawyer. 

@Kent Meentemeyer did you figure out a solution? I haven't run across this situation yet, but I'm interesting in hearing an update if you have one.