[j9harley]

My father in law purchased a vacation "cabin" up north about 7 years ago. Recently there was a flood in the house and when the insurance adjuster came out to assess, they found that the house's foundation was not built to code and a lot of corners were cut when building this house. The workmanship was very poor and braces were missing. It cost my father in law over $40,000 to repair what they hadn't done right in the first place. He has paperwork from the new contractors stating what wasn't done properly and up to code. He also has photos documenting the poor workmanship.
My question is what recourse does he have? Who, if anyone, can he pursue to get restitution for the money he is now out. Nothing was disclosed at the time of purchase and he found out just yesterday that they construction company that built the house was owned by the person who sold him the house. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Janine

PS The property is in AZ

[JudyKayTee]

He'd have to prove fraud. There could also be a case against the Town/City Inspectors - somebody had to look at the property and approve it.

Poor workmanship doesn't add up to a lawsuit or fraud. Not built to code does.

[j9harley]

Thanks, Judy. He is trying to obtain the original plans but they have suddenly gone missing. He's got a lot of photos showing that the support beams were too far apart and other other areas where it wasn't level by about an inch. Right now, he says he's not wanting to go after them for money but wants to have someone held accountable for building a sub standard structure. He doesn't want someone else to have to go through the same thing. I think the original homeowner sold him a house that wasn't built to code and should be held responsible as well.

[JudyKayTee]

And if HE tries to sell it and he is in an area where he is required to make full disclosure there could be a problem. He KNOWS it's not buillt to code.