Legal Help

[Gary DiPietroSr]

Need some help from my ST family. We have had some major trouble with the way our house was built, and have been in court over three years. The story is too long but my question is: can a town be sued or it's building inspectors because of faulty workmanship. They did issue a CO. Many many problems with the way the construction does not meet code. My engineer said to just knock down the house and start over! It's only 31/2 years old. Needless to say we don't sleep well anymore and probably why I spend so much time on my trac, at least I know that won't fall apart! My lawyer says I can't sue the town. Added a pic.



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[Matt Day]

Can they be sued? Sure. Will you get anywhere? Most likely not. Depending on municipality, gov't agencies may have immunity from lawsuits and the case would be dismissed rather quickly. A little more info may be helpful- you've been in court for several years...suing the builder? If that isnt going anywhere, I would doubt going after the codes inspector will get you anywhere.

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Beutiful house. What the hell is wrong with it if you don't mind me askin?

 

[EddieS'04]

I would see if any of your, local TV and radio station trouble shooters would be willing, to run an article over the problem. Maybe they can expose the inpectors and the city inefficiency...might find some kick back going on...

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Looks like a nice house. Is just selling it an option?

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

Thanks Matt, yes the builder has been sued and the courts sent us to mediation. My engineer and his are coming over Thursday to look at the house again. The builder first said he would buy back the house at what we paid, but I did $50K in improvements plus the equity should be up almost $300k. BTW, are you an attorney?



The major problems are structural, roof load not correct, bearing load walls in wrong place,etc. List is too long.



As far as selling it, under the disclosure laws, I have to tell the buyer about all the documented problems, if I don't, I'm liable.



Fast Eddie, I plan on calling the papers, sooner or later.

 

[Fer Echegaray]

I won't be of much help, but around here the builder is the one that bears responsibility, not the inspectors, and the buyer has up to 10 years to sue the building company for faults that can be attributed to them.

 

[Johnny O]

The builder first said he would buy back the house at what we paid, but I did $50K in improvements plus the equity should be up almost $300k.

My .02, take the buyback plus the $50k if the builder will do it. Equity is kinda iffy because of the disclosure laws.

At least you could find the builder. There used to be a contractor with an office in the same building as mine, he's been gone from here for 6 or 7 years but deputies with summonses still come looking for him. :lol:

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Gary, not for nothing, but you don't really have 300K equity in the house if you can't sell it for $300K more than what you currently own on it.



Have you been given estimates as to what it would cost to remediate the issues (if at all possible)? If you have, then one way to look at your house is that the equity is $300K LESS the remediation costs.



Did you have an independant home inspector inspect the house before purchase? I know many don't have new construction inspected in this fashion, thus I ask.



Also, did you get a lawyer to review all your legal documents and contracts and help you through the purchasing process?



If you had an inspector AND a lawyer, then the first thing you should have done was have your lawyer contact the inspector. The inspector is supposed to have insurance for just these types of claims, as he or she would have been negligent in their paid duties.



TJR

 

[TomT]

All depends on where you live. Here in Texas, municipalities are protected from lawsuits especially if it involves a screw-up by one of it's employees. It would be like suing a city if one of it's police officers acted irresponsible. Just doesn't happen. The sad truth is most city inspectors are way overloaded and unable to do a proper job. Afraid your only recourse is to go after the builder. By the way, that's a beautiful home just looking at the picture.

 

[Matt Day]

Gary- not an attorney, but work in insurance claims and deal with this type of stuff on occasion. The publicity side may work to your advantage, but be careful how far you go- don't want to be on the receiving end of a libel/slander suit. In regards to what you are able to recover, this is going to be dependant on CT law. Common sense would seem to indicate you could get the improvements, but 'equity' is a little harder to substantiate- your atty should be able to spell out best case scenario for you. Most states have some sort of Consumer Protection statute that allow you to recover atty fees + punitive type damages, but again, completly dependent on CT law.

 

[Johnny O]

this is going to be dependant on CT law.

True. I own a franchise of a national company, some of the legal issues we occasionally run into vary by state.

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

Johnny O and TJR, you are right, I really don't have any equity because of this problem. The house would never sell at all.

I'm using the same firm that I used when we bought the house. So they have all the contracts and such. I did not use an home inspection co. I relied on the towns building inspectors to protect me. This was a spec house that was partially built. The plans are wrong or at least not correct and the builder didn't follow them exactly. He was to give us " as built " plans, but they are wrong from what he did. Anyway thanks for all your help and concern, the enginners will be here on Thursday and will go from there. The builder thinks he can fix it himself for at lot less money. We got a price of $344,000 to repair it. We are just sick of the whole mess!

 

[Johnny O]

I'd say take what $$$ you can get from the builder, or whatever a fair deal is, and buy something else. Put another way, if it's $344k just to fix it, you're not going to be living in it anyway when they're doing that kind of work. And if the builder thinks he can do it for less (probably, but do you want to trust his "free" work when he ufcked up what he was getting paid to do in the first place?), he still ought to pay for a hotel or rent another house for you while he's doing the work.

Sorta depends, if it's a company with deeper pockets there should be less issues. If it's Fred & Son Contracting, your place is likely going to be at the bottom of their priority list since it's going to cost them a crapload of money to fix and not pay them anything. Most builders are on a pretty thin profit margin anyway (which is why your house is screwed up), and keep all their assets in their wife's name.

I still say take the money and run unless you really, REALLY like the location. A lot.

When my ex-wife was building her new house (that I *cough* paid for *cough*), they screwed up the French drains. Fortunately her dad knows a lot about construction and caught it and called the building inspector just to make sure, but the contractor wasn't real happy and allowed that he probably wouldn't make any money on the job then. Tough. Don't bid unprofitable work. I sure as hell don't.

BTW, I'm not a lawyer and I'm not a builder but a few of my relatives and two of my best friends are. The lawyer sends a lot of work to the contractor, getting estimates for lawsuits and fixing what other people screwed up. I see and hear a lot myself in my own line of work.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Gary I hate to say it, but I think the problem here is that you assumed the town's building inspectors would protect you, and frankly, that's not what they are there for. They are codes enforcement folks, and the codes they enforce are the ones the township passes; codes like new construction requires an electrical inspection inspected by a licensed electrician, ditto on plumbing; ditto on hvac, etc. As for overall architecture and engineering of the house, that's not their job. They can do their job 100% correctly and have everything meet local codes, and the house can still fall into the basement.



Also, I know the tri-state area, having lived there for 10 years, and I think I know CT pretty well. There are a LOT of small builder and shaddy contractors, and worksmanship and doing things right are NOT high on the list for many of these folks. I bought a 70yo house in Westchester Co, NY in '91 and I wouldn't have dreamed of buying it or anything in that area without both a lawyer AND a building engineer. When I bought that home in '91 the cost of the lawyer and the engineer TOGETHER was less than $1000.



Sorry for the salt on the wound, but I fear that this is probably going to end up as a costly life lesson.



Now, with all that said, ask your builder to think OUTSIDE the box....would seem to me that even if you have to put beams and pillars out in the open, in the middle of ceilings and rooms that isn't THAT BAD an option IF it means the house becomes safe and you save 100s of thousands of dollars.



TJR

 

[Johnny O]

I think the BOCA Code is pretty much national now. IF that's what they're supposed to go by where you live, you might have a case but again, a lot of government entities are exempt from lawsuits. Again, check with a lawyer.

Me, I buy old houses. Stuff might not be square, but they're built a lot stronger. My folks' house about is the same age and the roof trusses in the garage are 2x10's. :lol:

 

[buzz worth]

my questions would be......If the contractor buys it back from you, what is he going to do with it then? Can he resell it without disclosing the problems you have? Would he go in after the fact and do the repairs?

If it comes to selling it back to him, be sure you leave copies of a letter you write in many inconspicuous places for the next owner to find listing all the problems you are having with names, dates and contact info. Even if the contractor were to find a copy, he would wonder how many and where you left anymore. Maybe he would lose a little sleep then



buzz

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

Thanks again everyone. Buzz, if the builder buys it back, he thinks he's going to fix it himself and then have his other son live here. His older son lives next door. Just the thought of someone related to him sitting in my home thearter is killing me!

Don't wory, under the disclosure laws, he would have to prove that everything was fixed. I was going to put on file, somehow with the town, the engineer's report, so anyone who checked the house out before buying would see all the problems. I like your idea about the letters. Anyway, waiting for the engineers to show up now, they are 40 mins. late already. Thanks, Gary

 

[Gary DiPietroSr]

Thanks Scott, the builder got the plans from a certain architect himself, so I guess he might go after him after everything is said and done. Gary



P.S. I'm so stressed out right the engineers are coming NEXT week instead of today!

 

[Gypsy me]

hmmm small town building inspectors and independant contractors...? are they friends?



wow what a mess! I sure hope it gets resolved to your satisfaction. I'd ask for the rebuild plus at least 50 percent of what you put into the house that will be damaged or have to be redone ia land scaping etc...not to mention attorney fees and court costs. I dont feel that is asking too much. And to also pay for your rental and the transfer of your utilities to the "temporary" place you will be living while the rebuild is going on. It would be fair. Builder should have known better. They know when they are doing things wrong or illegally, they just never expect to get caught.



media would not hurt, and no I'm not an attorney but I sure believe right is right and wrong is wrong.