In Maryland, if you can show that sellers intentionally lied on the disclosure then you can sue. I have represented sellers in this situation. If they lied, they paid. Don't know about va. Document EVERYTHING.

I don't understand why you said o.k. to them leaving a big piece of heavy furniture in the house and why you didn't notice this leak in the basement during the final walk through. Crazy that this mess was in the living room and the basement and no one seemed to notice.

Is that heavy desk the only thing that they left in the house?

Did you do a final walk through with your agent -- everything should have but out by then but the desk. The damage should have been visible then (at least with respect to the basement).

Anonymous wrote:My first thought/phone call would have been to my real estate agent, to see what advice they had. Unless OP is one of the people on here who claim that they don't need one.

Oh you, you with your cute little agenda. No one's said anything bad about realtors on this thread so everything's ok! It will be ok.

Call your agent, call your agent's broker, have them call the listing agent and the inspector. In VA there is no disclosure they disclaim. Still someone should have noticed this. Were there agents involved? Get them on it.

What did the home inspector attribute the musty smell too? Surely he would have had some concern as no air freshener can fully mask the musty odor.

Did you notice the water damage in the basement during the final walkthrough?

Something similar happened to us - the selling agent put the house flyers on the kitchen counter. We never thought about moving them until final walkthrough I pciked them up to toss and the formica counter tips was damaged.
Sneaky of Jane fairweather to cover that up. We got a credit for repair at the closing table.

I would first call your agent. If you have evidnece that carpets were cleaned recently, then you might have a case that the owners were aware of the problem. It wouldn't hurt to run it by an attorney if the damage is expensive to repair.At the least, I would send a note to the seller and tell them you discovered this issue that was covered up with the desk and that you expect them to cover half of the cost of repair or else you will take them to small claims court, They might feel guilty and pay up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Legally though there is no recourse? unless I had moved their 200lb furniture during my inspection, there's nothing to be done?

Well, that's not exactly accurate OP. You did say that it was noticeable from the basement but you just didn't happen to notice it.

Call your agent. he/she will be able to guide you.

+1. Your agent needs to look into this for you.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you can sue the inspector for the price of the mold removal?

I don't think this is typically possible. For one thing, if you could sue the inspector every time he misses a major issue, no one would ever be a home inspector. It would just be too big of a risk for too little reward. That, or home inspectors would get very very expensive.

Something I just thought of: OP what state are you in? We are in MD and when we put a contract on our home I distinctly remember that there was a document signed by the sellers where they indicated whether or not they knew of any mold or water damage in the home.

Anonymous wrote:If I remember correctly, in my contract we had 3 days after purchase to change our minds. Or maybe it was with the lender?

That's for refinances with the lender.

My first thought/phone call would have been to my real estate agent, to see what advice they had. Unless OP is one of the people on here who claim that they don't need one.

I believe the three day recission right in VA is for homes with HOAs and the three days run from when you get the HOA docs (at contract signing), not at closing.

If I remember correctly, in my contract we had 3 days after purchase to change our minds. Or maybe it was with the lender?

Maybe you can sue the inspector for the price of the mold removal?

Inspectors are typically not required to move furniture like you're describing, however, they/the company would probably have some advice. Call them.

Second, if you closed yesterday, it takes a day to fund in Virginia. If there is indeed a claim to be made against the sellers then you need to contact your agent and/or the settlement agent asap before they send the sellers their funds. Get off this board and go do this right now.

Anonymous wrote:Were you present when the inspection was done? I'm having a hard time grasping how a group of adults who toured a house together to inspect, missed such a glaring problem. I would follow up with the inspector and your agent.

It was underneath furniture and wasn't noticeable in the basement (which was a disaster at the time with boxes).

Lesson learned I guess, move seller's furniture and don't allow them to abandon things when they move. Expensive lesson.

Inspector is actually a really good inspector, the sellers are just malicious.