Question:
“We bought a house and the seller disclosed the presence of a cat in one room, but no disclosure of any pet stains. We pulled up carpet and found 15-20 stains on the floor underneath. Is this a case where seller should have known and disclosed it? Or is he covered by saying he didn’t know? What do you think chances are of having seller pay for new flooring?”
Answer:
A seller is only required to disclose things that he knows or has evidence of.
He did disclose the cat. And he isn’t obligated to pull the carpet up to investigate.
You’d have a case if you had evidence of him trying to fix the problem in the past. For example, if a hardwood floor person came out and said he remembered the house because the old owner had him look at the stains.
You can always ask the seller to pay and if the seller says no, fix the problem and then take him to small claims court.
But you need to ask yourself…
If the seller REALLY didn’t know about the stains, he wouldn’t have done anything wrong. So is it morally right for you to force or even ask him to pay for the repair?
