Anonymous
Post 07/12/2013 11:43     Subject: Squirrels in attic, sellers didn't disclose
ugh, you have my sympathies. i just went through an inspection where you bet the inspector went up into the attic and walked around with a high powered flashlight.

these two threads serve as a big warning to everyone... hire a good home inspector!!
AroundTheBlock
Post 07/12/2013 11:36     Subject: Squirrels in attic, sellers didn't disclose
Anonymous wrote:S/o a previous post regarding seller not disclosing...
Upon moving into a new home, we quickly noticed noises coming from the attic of the home when spending time on the second floor of the house. Contacted a pest company and found out squirrels were living in the attic, and had been for some time. The rep from the company also found dead animals and poison pellets in the attic (and took pictures). The previous owner had lived in the home for the last 20 years, so obviously knew about and tried to kill the squirrels, but did not disclose. It cost 6k to remove the animals and replace damaged insulation.

We did have the home inspected, but the squirrels were found in a part of the attic not accessible to our inspector at time of inspection.

Should the seller have disclosed? Do we have a chance of winning if we were to sue, or are we out of luck?


Your home inspector did a poor job. You should contact that person and file a complaint. It is their job to find these items out prior to settlement.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2013 10:58     Subject: Squirrels in attic, sellers didn't disclose
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not OP, but just a question. When is it the responsibility of the owner to disclose? I mean dead animals and denying access is obviously dishonest. Buyer beware, but when does it rise to the level of illegal?


It seems pretty obvious that if the seller knew there were dead animals up there then they would have removed them prior to sale. If the inspector missed dead animals, why would you think the homeowner would know they were there?


There were poison pellets up there.


How fresh were the pellets? Could it be that over the years they have a couple of instance of pest invasions and got rid of them but never removed the pellets? ...and weren't aware at the time of sale that new squirrels have moved in?
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2013 09:45     Subject: Squirrels in attic, sellers didn't disclose
Even if you didn't have access to that portion of the attic during the inspection, surely you would've had access at the walkthrough. What did you find then?
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2013 09:42     Subject: Squirrels in attic, sellers didn't disclose
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Not OP, but just a question. When is it the responsibility of the owner to disclose? I mean dead animals and denying access is obviously dishonest. Buyer beware, but when does it rise to the level of illegal?


It seems pretty obvious that if the seller knew there were dead animals up there then they would have removed them prior to sale. If the inspector missed dead animals, why would you think the homeowner would know they were there?


There were poison pellets up there.


NP here. What? That response doesn't at all answer the question.
Anonymous
Post 07/12/2013 09:39     Subject: Squirrels in attic, sellers didn't disclose
In all of the papers that the owners fill out, isn't there a place to disclose whether the house had pests? If they lied on that disclosure, I would say you have something on the prior owner. You might try phoning them to ask them about it, not to confront them, just to get information.