Help! Bought House, Rent Back, Then Found Mold During End of Rent Back Walkthrough.

[Anonymous]

But it has to be damage they caused, like breaking a window or putting a hole in the wall, not for known water damage that got worse.

[Anonymous]

OP, it seems like a mild case of water damage that you will not be able to trace back to the sellers' actions. So stop worrying about finding a scapegoat and concentrate on fixing the problem (that you could have insisted on fixing while they were renting - you were the new owner!).

You are wise to regrade and correct/balance water spout flow. Maybe also French drain, if your elevation to the street is high enough. All these things are relatively inexpensive and should be tried first.

[Anonymous]

10:04 You don't sound like a lawyer who does settlements. If you were, you would know that most post-settlement occupancy agreements do state that the seller of the property is responsible for anything in the property until he turns over possession to the new owner.

[Anonymous]

I would talk to your settlement attorney ASAP. We had a problem where we could have withheld from the security deposit but we relied on our agent and missed the deadline for putting in a claim on the security deposit. You may be able to withold some of the security deposit, but I doubt you will get more than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:04 You don't sound like a lawyer who does settlements. If you were, you would know that most post-settlement occupancy agreements do state that the seller of the property is responsible for anything in the property until he turns over possession to the new owner.

Umm, not in my state, sweetheart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:04 You don't sound like a lawyer who does settlements. If you were, you would know that most post-settlement occupancy agreements do state that the seller of the property is responsible for anything in the property until he turns over possession to the new owner.

Umm, not in my state, sweetheart.

I just looked at ours. We're in VA. It says the seller warrants that the property will be in "substantially the same condition" as it was at closing. OP, what you recall as a "water stain" was probably mold already--it doesn't happen overnight. I'd be shocked if that wasn't considered "substantially the same," especially since you RECEIVED MONEY to remediate the condition.

It was nice of you to grant the occupants' request for privacy, but you had a right to go in there if you wanted to, and if there was a water stain you knew about, you really should have insisted. Lesson learned, but if I were them and you tried to keep my security deposit over this I would sue the hell out of you and ask for attorneys' fees as well.

[Anonymous]

20:09 In my state (sweetheart -- really you said that?!) which is actually the Commonwealth of Virginia, every post settlement occupancy agreement I have used shows that the seller is responsible for the house during the post-settlement occupancy agreement. Your state's agreement may say something else. OP is in Virginia, so I suspect her agreement says the seller was responsible. The question is whether the seller was responsible for something the buyer thought was mold which the buyer knew about in advance and received money to remediate the problem. Ah, the entitled generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:09 In my state (sweetheart -- really you said that?!) which is actually the Commonwealth of Virginia, every post settlement occupancy agreement I have used shows that the seller is responsible for the house during the post-settlement occupancy agreement. Your state's agreement may say something else. OP is in Virginia, so I suspect her agreement says the seller was responsible. The question is whether the seller was responsible for something the buyer thought was mold which the buyer knew about in advance and received money to remediate the problem. Ah, the entitled generation.

Hey old fogie didn't they teach you the meaning of the word "entitled" back in your one-room schoolhouse? Your comment made no sense. I'm not the PP you were responding to btw, I just thought you sounded like an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:09 In my state (sweetheart -- really you said that?!) which is actually the Commonwealth of Virginia, every post settlement occupancy agreement I have used shows that the seller is responsible for the house during the post-settlement occupancy agreement. Your state's agreement may say something else. OP is in Virginia, so I suspect her agreement says the seller was responsible. The question is whether the seller was responsible for something the buyer thought was mold which the buyer knew about in advance and received money to remediate the problem. Ah, the entitled generation.

OP here.

To address some of the items said here.
1. I am not from Virginia. We are in Montgomery County.
2. We never thought it was mold during the time of the home inspector nor during the time of settlement. As a matter of fact, we had several contractors at the beginning of the rent back time and they had mentioned that it was not mold. However, the day before the end of rent-back walkthrough the water stain had looked significantly different. That is why I had asked what I did.
3. In terms of getting money, it was not to address the "water stain history" in the basement but the overall regrading issue, age of roof, etc. We honestly thought we were not going to get any money back from the sellers but they incidentally gave agreed to it.

In any event, we are done with the walkthrough process now. Thanks to all who responded with a useful message and not find it so gratifying to insult me just because it's the nature of some DCUMer to do so.