Should I pay for hidden damage in my recently bought property?

After moving in to my new property 6 day ago I have discovered damage to the floor in the box room and the bathroom area.


The wooden floor under the carpet in the box room is rotten and covered with mould. Similarly with the bathroom floor next to the bath tub.


It was not highlighting before the sale.


If I had known that floor repairs were required I would not have purchased the property for the amount that was paid.


In my opinion repair cost should be paid by Seller. Am I right ? Is ther any law on my side?

Should I pay for hidden damage in my recently bought property?
I had the same, had a standard survey which just highlighted more what couldn't be looked at as opposed to what could, took the laminate floors up and ended up replacing the whole ground floor because of the hidden damage, fortunately I was able to do the work myself, but it still cost a few quid, including a new kitchen which wasn't planned, made preliminary enquiries about seller paying, but the response wasn't great, ended up getting nothing.
Reply:The buyer is under no obligation to highlight any of the problems you have mentioned....it is for you as the buyer to satisfy yourself that the price you are paying for the property is justifiable. This means carefully checking the property yourself and also getting a survey done and raising any enquiries beforehand.





With regard to the damage in the box room and bathroom area, you should check your survey and see if this was picked up...however if it is very obvious you should have seen it yourself anyway. Sounds a bit harsh but it's true.





There's a Latin saying "caveat emptor" meaning let the buyer beware. You may find that you do not have any comeback regarding this.





Sorry!!
Reply:Your surveyor should have picked up any defects, get in touch with your solicitor asap to see if he can get you some money back from the sellers
Reply:no you tit you should have had a survey done, or in a case like that just looked carefully when you were looking around the property. If any floorboards are going to be rotten and mouldy in a property it's going to be the ones near the bath most likely.





pay up and chalk it up to experience. The house is yours now. There's no obligation on the seller to point out the damage, possibly they didn't even know it was there themselves.
Reply:No, your survey should have shown any potential problems, you have bought the house, it is now yours and so are any problems that need sorting out, you could talk to your solicsitor but they will probably tell you the same, also the seller may not have been aware of these problems and you would have to prove that they were aware of this.


As its only mould under the carpets, just get a decent fungicidal treatment from B%26amp;Q to stop it getting any worse.
Reply:Unless you can prove that the vendor deliberately misled you, you don't have a leg to stand on, I'm afraid. That's why it's highly recommended that you have a survey done, and not rely on any "valuation survey" done for your mortgage lender - the latter is just to reassure the lender what the property is approximately worth.
Reply:I had similar problem and it was me that had to pay even though a survey had been carried out. The phrase used was buyer beware.
Reply:Look at it like this..... you sell your car, unaware that the engine is about to blow up. The buyer comes back saying the engine blew up......what would you, as seller do????
Reply:Did you get a home inspector before you bought the property that is a must in todays market, and did you ask for a full disclosure upon the offer to purchase, some states do not have a full disclosure law so buyer beware. But there should be some sort of buyers warranty put in place when you bought the property if not and the property was bought


(AS IS) then you may be on your own as to the damage and repair cost. Check with your Realtor.
Reply:check with your surveior who should have noticed this problem and informed you then have a chat with you solisitorwho should contact seller for you
Reply:If your property was inspected they should have found the damage. Try contacting your Realtor.
Reply:You had a chance to have a building inspection done and you may find that the seller was not aware of the damage so I would not give you much hope of a claim unless the seller specified that there was no actual rot in the floors etc ~~
Reply:Laws vary by locality. Consult your ATTORNEY regarding what recourse you may have.
Reply:Did you have a full survey done? You need to get back to them as to why it was not picked up. You have no chance of the seller paying, you have completed on the property now it is not their problem.
Reply:Did you have a survey of the house before buying? They should have picked up the damage. Do you know the cost of putting it right? It might not be as bad as you think - get some quotes.
Reply:if you only had a basic survey then the surveyor isn`t required to inspect hidden or unaccessable areas, if thats the case, unless you have been deliberatly misled by the seller (they actually told you that the bathroom had no damage)then there is nothing you can do.
Reply:We had problems with things being broken when we moved into our new house (electrical things, so not as bad as you).





We spoke to our solicitor about it and he said you need to prove the problems existed before you moved in to be able to have any sort of hope. In our case this was almost impossible and would have cost us a fortune to have it proven.





In your case it should be a lot easier, I'd speak to your solicitor again and see what he says, if they say its going to be hard than its worth consider speaking to the company who did your survey if you had one done as this is something they should have picked up.. you may be able to take legal action against them.
Reply:If your property is a new build, you may be covered under the NHBC certficate. If your house is older than ten years, I don't think you will have much luck in a claim I am afraid. Even if you had the property surveyed they generally don't check under the floorboards etc.





My advice would be to call the solicitor that handled the purchase for you and see what they advise.