Undisclosed damage to purchased home

Hi all - I purchased my home (Melbourne area) back in December and one of my surprises was that a deck that is only 7-8 years old had rotting joyces that needed to be replaced. I purchased the house before auction without condition, so I figured it's just bad luck. I've spent the last few weeks working with a builder to pull up the top layer, replace the joyces and put the top back on. Today he suggested that I may have a case with VCAT and that I should at least write a letter to the previous owners to see if they'd settle.

• Joyces were significantly rotted, dangerous and had to be replaced
• Damage was not disclosed at any point during the sales process
• Clear that the owners tried to hide it during walk throughs, and that they knew about it (due to some reinforcement they'd done to the rotting parts)
• Professional inspection was done after purchase but prior to settlement, and it was completely missed by the inspector

Is this something even worth pursuing? Total cost will be about $3k out of pocket, but that's with me doing about 30+ hours of work myself to keep costs down.

 

You generally buy the property as is. Not sure you would have much luck claiming agianst the previous owners. Perhaps more chance against the building inspector.
But i am not a litigation lawyer so seek proper advice.

 

Just put it down to good luck that you've detected and fixed the problem. You hear so many horror stories of decks/balconies failing.

 

Did you do a building inspection prior?

 

If you did not get an inspection done, then bad luck.

If you did, you expected to fix it, so get on with it.

If you sent me a demand for something I sold you because your now turning into one of those people who blames everyone else for everything, I would laugh and reply by letting you know your case will fail.

Do you think the prior owner did something to speed up the rot or something on you ? How does your logic work ? If I tell you jumping off the harbour bridge would be exciting and refreshing, would you try and jump ?

Owning a house is like owning a car, always something to spend $$$ on !

Carry on, Sun will keep going up and down.....save yourself the grief.

 

A building inspection was done, but the inspector missed the damage. In the report, that area is listed as in good condition.

 

Thanks - this is what I figured. I'm disappointed the inspector missed this - it's the second major thing he missed that was wrong with the house.

 

Nothing to do with the vendors you bought as is and would of factored into your price if you did a inspection before and was detected.

Might have something with the inspector depends on what was agreed and if there was an exclusion due to restriction of access but I would talk with the inspector first about the issue before you do the repairs so they can see and might be able to work an agreement without lawyers otherwise document with photos of taking further might be a bit hard now.

 

On a low set deck, since joists are covered by the decking, it can be difficult to tell if the joists are in good condition or not.

Make sure a joist protector (e.g. Protectadeck) is used when it is rebuilt.