the house detective

seller refuses to make repairs

Seller refuses to make repairs

DEAR BARRY: I just received the inspection report from my home inspector, but I’m wondering if it was worth it. He did a thorough job and found a long list of problems with the electrical wiring, the forced air furnace, and the roof. But when I asked the seller to have these issues repaired, he said, “The house is as-is. Take it or leave it!” What's the good of having a home inspection, if I have to buy the house in as-is condition?

Rob

DEAR ROB: The purpose of a home inspection is not to produce a mandatory repair list for the sellers. It is to inform you of the actual condition of the property so that you will know what you are buying before you buy it, if you buy it. A common homebuyer mistake is to present the seller with an inspection report as though it were a mandatory repair order.

This does not mean that you can't make reasonable repair requests of a seller, and in most cases, sellers are willing to make some repairs or to adjust the selling price. Commonly accepted requests involve safety issues such as electrical defects or problems with gas fixtures. Functional problems, especially those involving water leakage, are also regarded as reasonable repair requests. Unfortunately, not all sellers are reasonable about these things, and they are not obligated to make such repairs unless required by law or by the purchase contract.

Real estate transactions often fall out of escrow because buyers use a home inspection report as a redress of grievances or because sellers are rigidly resistant to anything but an as-is sale. My advice is to weigh the costs of the repairs against the selling price and value of the home. If the selling price plus the repair costs exceed the value the home would have after repairs, you might want to find another property. Keep in mind, also, that there is no such thing as a flawless house.

DEAR BARRY: I recently bought a house and hired a home inspector. He inspected the boiler and said it was fine. A month later I had it serviced and found out it was cracked. An old paper that was attached to the fixture says it’s been cracked for over a year. The home inspector says he is not liable. Is that right? Garin

DEAR GARIN: There are two issues here: the home inspector's findings and the seller's disclosure. If there was a notice in plain sight on the boiler, the home inspector was negligent for not having read it. If the crack was visible without dismantling the boiler, the home inspector would be liable for failing to disclose a visible defect.

Aside from the home inspector, if the boiler had been tagged with a defect notice by a contractor or other expert, the seller should have been aware of this and should have made disclosure when you were in escrow. Distributed by Action Coast Publishing. To write to Barry Stone, please visit him on the web at www. housedetective.com.