Bought a house, hidden defects, rotten floor

Questioner

Good afternoon, my girlfriend and I recently purchased a home. It concerns a home built in 1910. It is an older home. When removing the top layer of flooring, we discovered that the entire floor was rotten. We were unable to see this during the viewing, as the home has no crawl space. The selling party indicated/admitted that the floor in the closet was indeed rotten, "but I forgot to mention that on the purchase contract." Those were the words of the selling party. The same story about planks in the hallway, the selling party knew that too but forgot to mention it. We did not have to sign an old age clause, nor did we have a building inspection carried out. Now we are curious about where we stand and what steps we can take. I have brought the problem to the selling party, he indicated that he found it very annoying and wanted to solve the problem with us. Now that it comes down to it, he looks away again. I have contacted the real estate agent, but he indicated that he can no longer do anything for us.

Lawyer

That's an unpleasant discovery If the floor is completely rotten, it is quite defensible that the house is not fit for habitation (at least not until the floor has been repaired). In that case, you could put the seller in default, because he has not fulfilled his obligation (namely to deliver a house that is fit for habitation). if the seller was aware of this rot, he should have reported it to you. Now that he has not done so, you may be able to (partially) annul the agreement. The fact that the sellers did not stipulate an age clause speaks in your favour. Against this, the fact that you did not have a building inspection carried out speaks. The question is, however, whether this rot would have been discovered without destructive research. If that is not the case, that is an argument in your favour. In any case, the duty to report takes precedence over the duty to investigate, although the question is whether the seller (retrospectively) still 'remembers' that statement.