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renemoran · Dec 18, 2010, 08:48 AM

This problem happened two years ago when I bought the house. I had to pay to have the frontyard dug up and the sewer pipes replaced. The people I bought the house from said they never have had any problems with water in the basement. The plumber said the pipes were all broken due to tree routes. I wasn't in the house 4 months before the sewers backed up and filled my basement. This is my first opportunity to file. Is there a certain time limit to file a claim against the previous owners and get some of the money back that I had to pay to repair this problem?

excon · Dec 20, 2010, 08:53 AM

Originally Posted by renemoran

This is my first opportunity to file. Is there a certain time limit to file a claim against the previous owners and get some of the money back that I had to pay to repair this problem?

Hello r:

Yes. If you're thinking small claims, I'm thinking one year. If it's MORE, the statute of limitations is probably longer. If you didn't fiddle around and let the SOL expire, you're also going to have to PROVE they knew about the problem... That may, or may not be so easy. Certainly, if you could track down a plumber they HIRED, that would help. But, you SAYING they had to know, isn't going to be enough.

excon

this8384 · Dec 22, 2010, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by renemoran

This problem happened two years ago when I bought the house. I had to pay to have the frontyard dug up and the sewer pipes replaced. The people I bought the house from said they never have had any problems with water in the basement. The plumber said the pipes were all broken due to tree routes. I wasn't in the house 4 months before the sewers backed up and filled my basement. This is my first opportunity to file. Is there a certain time limit to file a claim against the previous owners and get some of the money back that I had to pay to repair this problem?

New York has a six-year statute of limitations to sue for the debt:
New York Statutes of Limitations

However, I don't know that this case is worth the hassle. As excon pointed out, the previous owner may not have known about the problem and the burden will be on you to prove that they were aware of it, which is next to impossible. Did you have a home inspection done prior to purchasing the house? After all, you already owned it for at least three months - it's not like the problem arose immediately after purchase.

Have you contacted the previous owner about this to see if s/he is willing to pay any portion of the bill?