Buyers : Advice

"… the essentials are always invisible!"

The house of your dreams has become a nightmare after you discovered some problems? You are wondering what recourse you may have against the seller. Here is some information that might help:

• To qualify as a hidden defect the following conditions must be met:
  
  
  • the defect must have existed at the time of sale;
    
    
  • should not have been apparent when the buyer inspected the property: the building should not show any indications of the defect.
    
    
  • be sufficiently serious.
• After reading the above you now know if you are faced with a hidden defect. What do you do? (in this order)
  
  
  • take pictures of the affected area;
    
    
  • hire a professional (architect, engineer, contractor, technologist) specialised in the type of problem encountered so as to discover the exact nature of the defect;
    
    
  • obtain one or two tenders which describe the necessary repairs and detail the costs;
    
    
  • advise the ex-owner quickly, in writing, of the existence of the defect and the costs of repair, by registered mail or bailiff;
    
    
  • in the same letter request that the ex-owner have a counter-valuation done within a specific delay;
    
    
  • do not undertake any repair work before the expiration of the delay given to the ex-owner for his counter-valuation.

You have three years to take any legal action, as long as you have sent your written notice advising of the existence of the defect within a reasonable time. You will need to have a lawyer.