Seller blames home inspector

Q. My home has a problem that was not disclosed when I bought the property last year. Whenever it rains, water leaks under the sliding glass door, completely soaking the carpet. This was not discovered by my home inspector, and it was not disclosed by the seller.

When I lifted the edge of the carpet at the door threshold, the carpet strip was completely rotted. This means that the leaking has happened before, so the seller must have known about it. I recently complained about this to the seller, and he denied responsibility. Instead, he blamed the home inspector for not finding the problem. He said the inspector should pay for the repairs because finding the problem was his responsibility. I think the seller should have disclosed this and is simply passing the buck for his dishonesty. He lived in the property five years, so he must have known about it. What do you think about this?

A. The seller apparently may need some lessons in the ethics of real estate disclosure. Sellers are required to disclose known defects. If the seller lived in the home long enough to encounter rainy weather, he was most likely aware of the problem. The fact that the tack strips were rotted indicates the carpets had been soaked on repeated occasions: something an occupant was unlikely to have overlooked. Five years of residence is long enough to have notice recurrent leakage at a doorway, and this should have been included in the seller's disclosure statement.

Now that the undisclosed problem has been revealed, the seller's feeble defense is to cry, "It was the inspector's fault! Let him pay for it!" By deferring his obligation in this way, he makes two false assumptions:

• He assumes the purpose of a home inspection is to absolve sellers of their obligation to disclose.

• He also assumes home inspection firms are de facto insurance companies for negligent sellers, indemnifying them for undisclosed defects.

The first order of business is to prevent further leakage at the doorways. To do this, you should hire a licensed general contractor. The problem could be a simple matter of caulking, or it could involve corrective work for improper installation of the door.

You should also inform your home inspector of this problem and ask that the inspection report be amended to include this defect. Once the leakage has been eliminated, the cost of replacing the damaged tack strips should be nominal, unless there is also some rotted subfloor or mold. Evaluation by a licensed pest control operator and by a certified mold expert are advised for conditions of that kind.

If the seller is adamantly unwilling to pay for repairs, you can test the case in small claims court. If you choose that course, be sure to consult with a real estate attorney for advice on preparing and presenting your case.

• To write to Barry Stone, visit him on the web at www.housedetective.com, or write AMG, 1776 Jami Lee Court, Suite 218, San Luis Obispo, CA 94301.

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