You Bought a Gardner, Kansas Home and now the Basement Flooded. Now What? Gardner, KS. real estate

You Bought a Gardner, Kansas Home and now the Basement Flooded. Now What?

Well-informed home buyers may spend a couple months looking at properties, researching neighborhoods, scouting the schools and gaining deep real estate market knowledge of an area. Once they identified an area, they may spend weeks getting to know more about homes in the area. They make several visits to their top homes, compare the pluses and minuses and thoroughly read through the the seller’s disclosures. If the home passes the home buyer will make and offer and if accepted will start with hiring an inspector. In most cases the buyer will follow the inspector through the home to gain more valuable knowledge. Once completed, the home buyer will read the entire home inspection report.

All’s well, escrow closes, the title changes and the home now belongs to the home buyer. It is theirs. All the dreams and projects that the home buyer has been thinking about can now become a reality. Some of them get started.

Then, right when the home buyer least expects it, something unexpected happens. The furnace goes out,garage door breaks or the skylight starts leaking. Now what? Does the buyer have to cough up yet more money to fix the issue, or is it the seller’s responsibility?

It depends.

In Kansas, the seller is responsible and liable for disclosing to the home buyer any defects or issues that would have a negative effect on the home. Additionally, the property inspections give the buyer the opportunity to identify and address any issues the seller didn’t disclose.

As thorough as a home buyer can be during their due diligence period, problems may arise after closing that the seller didn’t know about and the home inspector didn’t uncover.

In many situations, it’s the responsibility of the current owner to pay for repairs. That’s just part of life of a homeowners right?

It depends. What happens if a issue could not be discovered during inspections, but it is something the seller may have known about but didn’t disclose?

If it is a small issue, most home buyers will probably not bother them.

What happens if it is a big issue like a flooded basement.

The Case of the Flooded Basement in Gardner, Kansas

There’s a story in Gardner which a home buyer took ownership of a nice looking ranch home. They preformed all of their inspections and thoroughly read the sellers disclosure. After the first big rain, the finished basement flooded. Water was coming from all four sides. The problem wasn’t something that could be easily discovered during a two-hour inspection on a sunny day.
The home appeared to have never leaked. The were no water stains on the finished walls.


The water seepage in the finished basement eventually led to mold problems throughout the ranch home. The new home owner eventually had to move out due to health concerns. His kids had been in the hospital several times.

After contacting a basement repair company to fix the leaky basement, the new owner learned that the former owner had known about the leaky basement and had in fact hired a basement repair company to make the repairs and a contractor to cover-up the repairs. It became clear to the new homeowner that the seller knew about the problems and failed to disclose it
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The homeowner first followed protocol by going through mediation. After countless depositions and meetings, the mediation process was unsuccessful. The new homeowner next filed a lawsuit. It was a lengthy battle that almost split the home owner’s family. It definitely drained their bank account. The case was finally settled years later. The new homeowner won the settlement.

Advice for Home Buyers

Always read thoroughly the complete inspection report and all disclosures. If you’re unsure of anything, demand for a written explanation of any missed items from the disclosures. Don’t hesitate to ask questions of the seller, your real estate agent or your home inspector. If you still have concerns get a second opinion from another inspector or from a contractor. The goal is to isolate as many issues as possible before closing and you take over ownership.
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Should something issue arise after you own the home, the best plan of action is usually to discuss the problem with your home inspector and real estate agent. In addition review the paperwork. Don’t assume guilt; in some cases, the issue at hand never happened to the previous owner and may simply be bad luck.

Sometimes though, the situation can lead to a more serious issue. For the most part, smaller issues can be settled between both parties without incident. But for a more serious problem, like a major health or safety issue, home buyers may need to consult an attorney for the best course of action.

Advice for Sellers

Seller should consider getting a home inspection done right before they put the home on the market. This should reveal any potential problems that they might not have know about, giving them time to have the items fixed before listing their home for sale. When a sellers home goes on the market, they can present potential buyers with a copy of the inspection. This often gives buyers a sense of confidence about the seller’s property. And in a difficult real estate market, that can help sell a property. In addition, the home seller will need to thoroughly complete the sellers disclosure being careful to not omit important issues.

As a home seller it is better to be cautious and overly disclose versus receiving a phone call after closing from an attorney.

RE/MAX sells more homes than any other real estate company.
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Blog post written by the Dowell Taggart Team of RE/MAX Premier Realty 

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