Hi there.
I bought a 50 year old house recently in an auction and after moving in I came to know two major issues in the house, which was not by any wording, been mentioned in the building report .
One. In the storage area which is under the house, it gets flooded whenever there is heavy rain and footage wall have 99% moisture reading most of time .
When i called plumbers/drainage experts they did mentioned by examining the walls and the deep white efflorescence marks it has is clear indication of the issue is more than 2-3 year. Must be a long standing issue and must be known by previous residents .
However it was not mentioned even as any risk or as any minor/major defect in the inspection report. and dampness was mentioned as no issue .
Two. Borer damage in the wooden logs under sub floor .
When I did call the pest control guys to do treatment then looking at the damage he did mention that the kind of damage it has is not which can happens in few months .However he did suggest if I need to know exact age of damage then need to call some bio-specialist who can tell the exact age by taking some sample and examine in lab.
This was also not indicated in the report and it was just mentioned as no borer found .
When I did approach to the company who did inspection report then the inspection guy came and found the issue is still existing and agree yes they seems to be in place prior and longstanding .
He was saying he could not do such detail inspection at the time because the area was blocked by the owner's stuff stored in those places.
However in the report there are some comments about other defects those belongs to same area . (i.e Subfloor and under house storage room ) .
long story in short …..
After too much following up i have been offered two options
Option 1. They are happy to refund me the fee which they have charged for the inspection report which is approximately $1400.
Option 2.They have asked me if I do not opt for option 1 then I need to follow up with their insurance company and provided me with the contact details .
My concern is due to heavy moisture and presence of such dense borer, I was in panic situation and called multiple plumbers/Drain professionals to provide me the solution and they did try to check the issue and do some fixes which has costed me heavily.
Considering the risk of termite infestation due to presence of moist ground, I got the termite treatment done along with pest control which has cost me another $4000 approximately.
Is there any one who has come across such situation or aware of how to deal in such issues . Please help me to know what to opt either option 1 or option 2.
If I go for option 2 then what would be the process to take it further with their Insurance company? Do they get agree to reimburse the expenses which may occur to fix these issue and the money which I have already spent.
Or they try to take the support of legal language (like weather condition change, report is based only on visual inspection and this is standard report) which is in the building report to safeguard their client interest and avoid to pay until as buyer I take it legally and prove the fault of the inspection company.
Looking to hear the advice from knowledgeable people here .
Thanks in Advance .
50 year old, in ACT, did the report mention the Asbestos?