If we bought a home 5 months ago and the seller didn’t disclose that the basement was wet and would flood in a hard rain, what can we do about this?
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If we bought a home 5 months ago and the seller didn’t disclose that the basement was wet and would flood in a hard rain, what can we do about this?
We bought our house and the seller did not disclose that the basement floods in a hard rain. We ended up having 3 to 4 inches of water down there and we lost a lot of our things from it. Is there anything that we can do? We would never bought this house had we known the basement was wet.
Asked on August 2, 2019 under Real Estate Law, Ohio
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
You can sue the seller for fraud. Fraud is the intentional misrepresentation or nondisclosure of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity and with the intent to induce your reliance upon which you justifiably relied to your detriment.
In other words, you would not have bought the house had you known of the basement flooding.
Your damages (monetary compensation you are seeking in a lawsuit) for fraud would be either the benefit of the bargain or your out of pocket loss).
Benefit of the bargain means a defrauded purchaser may recover the difference between the real and represented value of the property regardless of the fact that actual loss suffered might have been less.
Out of pocket determination of damages for fraudulent misrepresentation permits recovery of the difference between the price paid and actual value of the property acquired.
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