A Second Inspection Could Protect You From Surprises, and Failed Lawsuits

Earlier this year, in In re: Kellie Cooper, 2011 Bankr. LEXIS 562 (2011), a buyer of residential property in Des Plaines, Illinois sued the seller for misrepresentation and fraud.   In this case, the Buyer and Seller entered into a contract for the purchase/sale of the property.  During the Buyer’s professional inspection, however, a number of serious problems were noted by the inspector.  As a result, the Buyer canceled the Contract.

Some time thereafter, the Seller contacted one of the real estate agents involved via electronic mail, and stated that a number of the repairs were completed.  The Seller also provided a number of repair bills to the Buyer.  The Buyer and the Seller signed a new contract in the summer of 2006, and closed before the end of the summer.  The Buyer walked through the Property, but did not conduct another professional inspection. The Buyer stated that the Seller made specific verbal statements that certain repairs had been completed.

Regardless, many of the same issues that were in the original inspection report surfaced again after closing.  Because the home suffered extensive damage, the Buyer eventually sued the Seller.  The court, however, took the Seller’s side, stating that the Buyer should not have relied on Seller’s statements and should have conducted another professional inspection, since the Buyer was already on notice that there were many problems with the house.  In this situation, a second inspection could have saved the Buyer a lot of time, money and grief!