Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania

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→�My husband and I sold our home Dec 23. Prior to selling our home we have talked about repairs that needed done on the home . We finished all repairs asked . One day after our closure the roof began to leak. The buyer had their homeowners insurance pay for some costs after having an estimate done for repairs. They are now asking us to pay for the rest of the estimate balance $6300. Do we have to pay this amount ? Can we offer to have our own estimate? We are unsure what we can do legally .


Asked on 1/26/16, 7:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

ANDREA G. TILLIS Law Offices of Andrea G. Tillis

Thank you for your question. If you did not have any knowledge of the defect in the roof, or that it leaked because it never leaked when you owned the property, then you should not be held liable for any repairs or damages caused by the leak in the roof.

Additionally, if the buyers hired a professional to inspect the condition of the property, then their professional should have performed an inspection of the roof because the condition of the roof is an item that buyers are usually concerned with. If the buyers had the opportunity to bring in their own expert to do an inspection, but did not instruct the inspector to include the roof in his inspection, then it was an oversight on their part and you should not be held liable for any portion of the repair costs.

If you did not attempt to hide any defect in the roof and you had no reason to know that the roof leaked, but the buyers faled to instruct their inspector to include the roof as part of his inspection, then I cannot see any legal grounds for holding you responsible for the roof, any damage caused by the leaks in the roof, or any of the costs related to repairing the roof or any damage to the rest of the property caused by the leak.

Kindest regards,

ANDREA G. TILLIS

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Answered on 1/27/16, 5:31 am


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