[Question] Regarding sale of a house and structural faults found 2 and a half years later

[psykro]

Greetings to the community

I could use some guidance on what the CPA says about the following situation:

Purchased a house via an estate agent, sale went through on November 2010.

Now, March 2012 we discover that there possibly may be some structural problems with the foundations to the house, causing the house to sink.

1) As our purchase took place after the CPA came into force, does the sale of our house fall under any regulations of the Act.
2) If so, are we able to take this matter up with the estate agent or seller of the house as this information was not disclosed to us.
3) If not, what other recourse do we have in this matter?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[Tim Crowley]

You say you bought the house in November 2010, the new Consumer Protection Act only came into effect as from 1st April 2011.
To say your purchase of the house took place after the CPA came into force is incorrect, more specifically on the clause (voetstoots) which in your case would still be applicable.
You would also have to prove that the owner knew of the structural faults prior to the sale.
You also sound unsure of your claim by saying "there possibly may be".
Does your Home Owner Insurance Policy not cover this if you have one?

[wynn]

If it looks like the previous owner tried to cover the fact up by patching or concealment, you may have a case.

[psykro]

Thanks for the replies.

We are not 100% sure as this was just pointed out to us by a builder when we showed him the cracks and we are looking into it to confirm. We are also investigating as to whether our home owner insurance covers this.

Unfortunately when we bought the place we had it painted and all cracks etc filled in, its only now that its getting bad again that we got someone in to look into the problem.

How easy/difficult is it to prove that the previous owner was aware of the problem.

[flaker]

This is what i would do. Forget the previous owner. It would appear that he had not hidden any cracks that were there when you purchased. Get an engineer. He would say if there is any subsidence.Check your insurance policy if it covers subsidence. Most don't, but for an extra premium and a huge excess, they do.

You would now be equipped to make decisions.

[Dave A]

How easy/difficult is it to prove that the previous owner was aware of the problem.

Wrong question. The right question is "how easy/difficult is it to prove that the seller concealed a problem that they were aware of?"

Unfortunately when we bought the place we had it painted and all cracks etc filled in...

It would seem the cracks were plainly obvious when you bought the property.