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#1
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What is a defect ?
I'm looking to buy a house and in the 'standard' purchase agreement it
says a "defect" means a condition that would have a significant adverse effect on the value of the property, that would significantly impair the health or safety of future occupants of the property, or that if not repaired, removed, or replaced would significantly shorten or adversely affect the expected normal life of the premises. So the inspection comes back with a bunch of small stuff and one major thing. How do I know what meets the definition of "defect' as quoted above ? Thank you. Major item: Deterioration and settlement were noted in the patio. Repair is needed. The rear elevated porch slab is 15' x 6', and is broken clean in two. The supporting concrete block structure, the top few feet of which is visible from the outside and which forms the basement wall, has deteriorated to the point where much of the mortar is missing and a few of the blocks have been displaced by half an inch. Minor items: Negative slope was noted in the furnace flue pipe. A quarter inch rise per floor is required. The furnace flue pipe is in contact with wood in the basement. A 1 inch clearance is required from combustibles. The humidifier water panel needs to be replaced. The furnace burners are short cycling. Service is needed. Insufficient combustion air supply was noted in the furnace closet. Proper air supply is needed. Improper clearance was noted between the furnace flue pipe and combustibles. Six inch clearance is required. No overflow pan was noted below the furnace. The main electrical service wire is less than 10 ft. above the patio. Visible mold was noted on the upper level bathroom wall and wallpaper. Visible mold was noted in the half bathroom wall below the sink. Missing counter flashing was noted at the chimney. Repair is needed. Existing flashing is not cut into chimney mortar. Cracking and deterioration were noted in the chimney mortar cap. Repair is needed. Improper and unsafe steps were noted at the patio. |
#2
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#3
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As you mention, a lot of those seem like "minor items" to me. Very
minor. You won't find a house without a list of minor items at least as long as that one. If it were me, I'd pick maybe two or so of the more important things on the list, and ignore the rest. 1. The service line being too low would concern me. The utility can probably move it, but I'm guessing they will charge at least $1k to do it. 2. The furnace flue could be fixed by any company that installs furnaces. Shouldn't cost too much. If you buy the house, then go ahead and get the furnace serviced, and deal with the other things you listed. A little paint in the bathroom; some caulk on the chimney cap; etc. |
#4
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On 2 Mar 2005 18:45:02 -0800, someone wrote:
I'm looking to buy a house and in the 'standard' purchase agreement it says a "defect" means..... It says right there what constitutes a defect. You should be asking your lawyer, not a bunch of anonymous people on the NG. You are asking if specific conditions fall into a general category. Well, do you think they do or not? Reply to NG only - this e.mail address goes to a kill file. |
#5
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I did ask my attorney. I was hoping to get lucky and find someone
who'd been thru a similar process of having to pick thru a number of items and determine which were significant. I cannot think of a better way to take a shot at getting an impartial opinion from a large number of people in a very short period of time, than posting on the news group. The question is at least as appropriate as some of the other posted questions about whether their oddly-behaving electric switch or gas line or whatever is going to burn their house down. |
#6
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Thank you for the comments, it has also occurred to me that some of the
code violations might even be of interest when getting a mortgage. The mortgage co. asked for a copy of the inspection and I would expect them to at last look for serious structural defects that would affect their/my investment. I will follow where the path of the code violations takes me. |
#7
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#8
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"Andrew Koenig" wrote in message
... .... snip ... I would think that whether or not your municipality requires it, you should ensure that the house meets all building codes before you buy it. Because if it doesn't, you might be responsible for fixing those problems before you sell it. In other words, while you're there, whatever municipality it is might decide to institute a rule that requires all houses to meet code when they're sold. In which case the problem is on your shoulders. That is not practical. The general rule of thumb is that the building was in compliance with the code at the time it was built or renovated and subsequently inspected/signed off. Today's code is much stricter than in the past. Having a municipality force you to come up to code would be prohibitively expensive given the number of older homes. -al sung Rapid Realm Technology, Inc. Hopkinton, MA |
#9
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Alan Sung wrote:
"Andrew Koenig" wrote in message ... ... snip ... I would think that whether or not your municipality requires it, you should ensure that the house meets all building codes before you buy it. Because if it doesn't, you might be responsible for fixing those problems before you sell it. In other words, while you're there, whatever municipality it is might decide to institute a rule that requires all houses to meet code when they're sold. In which case the problem is on your shoulders. That is not practical. The general rule of thumb is that the building was in compliance with the code at the time it was built or renovated and subsequently inspected/signed off. Today's code is much stricter than in the past. Having a municipality force you to come up to code would be prohibitively expensive given the number of older homes. -al sung Rapid Realm Technology, Inc. Hopkinton, MA Except if the code violation would have been a violation "back then" when the house was built you could still be liable. Don't count on the city inspectors to find much if anything, based on my experience. |
#10
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"gary" wrote in message
... Alan Sung wrote: "Andrew Koenig" wrote in message ... ... snip ... I would think that whether or not your municipality requires it, you should ensure that the house meets all building codes before you buy it. Because if it doesn't, you might be responsible for fixing those problems before you sell it. In other words, while you're there, whatever municipality it is might decide to institute a rule that requires all houses to meet code when they're sold. In which case the problem is on your shoulders. That is not practical. The general rule of thumb is that the building was in compliance with the code at the time it was built or renovated and subsequently inspected/signed off. Today's code is much stricter than in the past. Having a municipality force you to come up to code would be prohibitively expensive given the number of older homes. -al sung Rapid Realm Technology, Inc. Hopkinton, MA Except if the code violation would have been a violation "back then" when the house was built you could still be liable. Don't count on the city inspectors to find much if anything, based on my experience. Let's say for example there was some code violation "back then" BUT the building inspector at that time signs off and says everything is fine (like you said, they might not find anything). Now you go sell today... the municipality cannot force you to correct what was originally approved by them. There are cases where the municipality is held responsible if it can be proven that it knowingly and negligently approved work that was in violation of the code "back then" but this is not an easy thing to do. -al sung |
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