Buying a home with defects: case study..
"We recently moved in to our new home (a month in); now we are struggling with major plumbing issues.
A plumbing company told us that the plumbing of the home is not compliant so what do we do now? We were not told about anything and are now stuck having to dig up and break up concrete foundations to try and get to the pipes.
We have also not received a gas compliance cert or an electrical compliance cert and now it's the plumbing as well. We don't know what to do and obviously we did not financially plan for any of these problems being just into the new home."
Mc Naught and Co says:
You need to have another look at both your sale agreement terms as well as the seller's defect disclosure form the sellers ought to have given to the real estate agent who should have passed it on to you before you signed the offer to purchase. Usually the sellers will be covered against defects they disclosed and which you bought in that condition and generally they will be covered and not have to repair defects that are not known and have emerged since purchase. You mention major plumbing problems... if these were clear known problems that the seller would have been aware of and did not disclose to you, they would be liable to fix them. The electrical compliance certificate is usually handled by the conveyancers who will give you a copy on registration of the property into your name. If you are concerned about the state of the electrical and gas installations ask to see a copy now.