We just purchased our first house about a year ago. The fully finished basement just leaked. When we had people come out to remove the drywall and find the source of the leak they found another old wood paneled wall behind the new drywall that is covered in mold. This "cover-up" goes all around the walls of our basement. We know that when we bought our house that the owner took out a $30,000 construction loan to finish the basement but it looks like he did a rush job and pocketed the money. Now, we have a basement that has to be completely refinished and are stuck with the bill. Is there anything we can do legally to make the seller pay for his mistake? He still lives locally.

Hello S:

Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on the agreements you made when you bought it. Did you have an inspection? That might be where you can collect damages... Did you have a lawyer? Probably not, or I'll bet this wouldn't have happened.

In any case, it's not so clear cut. Even if it was, the guy isn't going to write out a check just because you caught him. You're going to need a lawyer, and you're going to need an estimate from a couple of contractors for the cost to repair the damage. You might even have more damages than that.

excon