When you buy a home, you deserve to know exactly what you’re buying. It’s important for the seller and their agent to be honest with you about the property. If they lie to you and intentionally mislead you, that could cause you to spend money on a home you wouldn’t have bought otherwise, and it can be a serious financial problem. You may have to start a lawsuit in order to resolve it.
For instance, if they lie about the condition of the property and tell you that the roof is in great shape, you may invest all the money that you have in that property. If you then find out that the roof needs to be replaced and it’s going to cost tens of thousands of dollars, you’re looking at a financial hardship that you can’t afford. You also have a home that is worth far less than you realized, on account of the fact that no one else will buy it with the roof in that condition. You’ve instantly lost a lot of money on the purchase, and it is the seller’s fault
Remember, agents can also lie, and they may do so. They’re not allowed to, of course, but don’t assume that everything they say is honest. They also want to make the sale.
Failing to disclose defects
One of the biggest ways that these lies may happen is if a seller fails to disclose defects with the property or lies about it to try to cover up those defects. The roof noted above is just one example. They could also lie about damage from an old fire, about water damage within the home, about termites or some other sort of infestation, about the square footage of the house or about issues with the foundation.
In some cases, sellers will even go a step further and try to make their lies more convincing. For instance, a seller may tell you that the home’s water damage has all been fixed, but all they really did was paint over the bad spots on the wall. The studs and beams are still just as damaged as they were, and the home needs thousands of dollars of work, but they “solved” it with $100 of paint and defrauded you out of your money.
Starting your lawsuit
If this does happen to you and it’s clear that the seller lied, or the agent lied, the only way to make things even may be to start a lawsuit. You need to make sure you know what steps to take and what you deserve to get out of this process.