I bought my first house in February of this year. I was extremely excited and happy about it. It is an older house but has a lot of character that I love. One of the things I requested of the seller was the replace the air conditioner. The seller marked through that and stated he would repair the air conditioner. This is an old unit. I agreed to that, as long as he repaired it. Fast forward to May, I turned on the AC for the first time and it did not work. I contacted my agent, who contacted the seller and assured me that he had repaired the AC unit. He sent a receipt to my agent, and there is nothing about an AC on it. The home warranty company will not cover the AC unit since there is no proof that it was repaired and in working order when I bought the home. The seller finally sent the repairman that had done all of the work to begin with, and I told him that I had already had an AC spcialist look at it and he had told me there is no way that any one has worked on that AC unit. The guy said at first that he did work on it, but when I mentioned the insulation in a hole in the unit, wires hanging down (per the AC specialist I had hired to look at it when it wouldn't come on), the other guy clarified and said, he had worked for two days on the furnace, since it was winter, because the furnace wouldn't come on. I asked him if he was saying that he did not work on the AC. He stated he didn't.

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He went ahead and looked at the unit, and while he was looking at the unit, I called my agent and told her what he'd said. While I was on the phone with her, he came back up and told me the condensor is shorting out. I asked him twice more (with my agent on the phone and listening) if he was sure that he had not looked at the AC unit before I bought the home. He stated emphatically that he had not looked at it, only the furnace.

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Today, I received an email from my agent (forwarding the previous owner's reply - agent owned), that the guy he had look at it was stating he had never told me that he had not looked at the unit. They are offering to pay for half the cost of the AC unit, instead of replacing / repairing the unit. The original contract stated they would repair the unit, but from what I was told they never touched it (though he is telling the seller he never said that). What are my options? Do you think I should accept the deal of them paying half the cost? It would be over a thousand out of pocket for me. To me, the fact they didn't look at it is out right fraud, but my agent is encouraging me to accept the offer. I just want to hear what someone with legal expertise says.

This is an issue for your real estate attorney to deal with. Please, tell me you hired a real estate attorney to review your contract before you signed it.

TD3 said:

This is an issue for your real estate attorney to deal with. Please, tell me you hired a real estate attorney to review your contract before you signed it.

Agreed.

And another thing.......... did you ever get a home inspection done??

prittypriss said:

I bought my first house in February of this year. I was extremely excited and happy about it. It is an older house but has a lot of character that I love. One of the things I requested of the seller was the replace the air conditioner. The seller marked through that and stated he would repair the air conditioner. This is an old unit. I agreed to that, as long as he repaired it. Fast forward to May, I turned on the AC for the first time and it did not work. I contacted my agent, who contacted the seller and assured me that he had repaired the AC unit. He sent a receipt to my agent, and there is nothing about an AC on it. The home warranty company will not cover the AC unit since there is no proof that it was repaired and in working order when I bought the home. The seller finally sent the repairman that had done all of the work to begin with, and I told him that I had already had an AC spcialist look at it and he had told me there is no way that any one has worked on that AC unit. The guy said at first that he did work on it, but when I mentioned the insulation in a hole in the unit, wires hanging down (per the AC specialist I had hired to look at it when it wouldn't come on), the other guy clarified and said, he had worked for two days on the furnace, since it was winter, because the furnace wouldn't come on. I asked him if he was saying that he did not work on the AC. He stated he didn't.

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He went ahead and looked at the unit, and while he was looking at the unit, I called my agent and told her what he'd said. While I was on the phone with her, he came back up and told me the condensor is shorting out. I asked him twice more (with my agent on the phone and listening) if he was sure that he had not looked at the AC unit before I bought the home. He stated emphatically that he had not looked at it, only the furnace.

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Today, I received an email from my agent (forwarding the previous owner's reply - agent owned), that the guy he had look at it was stating he had never told me that he had not looked at the unit. They are offering to pay for half the cost of the AC unit, instead of replacing / repairing the unit. The original contract stated they would repair the unit, but from what I was told they never touched it (though he is telling the seller he never said that). What are my options? Do you think I should accept the deal of them paying half the cost? It would be over a thousand out of pocket for me. To me, the fact they didn't look at it is out right fraud, but my agent is encouraging me to accept the offer. I just want to hear what someone with legal expertise says.

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this is not legal advice, as i am not an attorney. but if i were you, here are some factors i would consider.

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you have a breach of contract claim.

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you will likely need an attorney to help you recover damages, but you might be able to handle the claim in conciliation court (check online your local court rules for the cut-off limit for claims in conciliation court).

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unfortunately, if you retain legal counsel your attorney bills will probably add up to more than a $1,000 (much more, if the matter drags on at attorney fees of $200 - $300 per hour).

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you might have a difficult time of disproving that the owner "fixed" the unit, since the repairman changed his story.

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there is a possibility that this is actually a total snafu of communications between the repairman and prior owner.

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have you checked to see if the furnace works at all?

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if the furnace works it might be more cost-effective to accept their offer.

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if the entire furnace doesn't work it might be worth threatening a day in court.

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i hope this works out for you.

I believe XxAxX is right, in that the legal bill would be high.

You may be better off taking their offer, and paying for half a new A/C unit. At least then you'll have something you know works, and that has a warranty. If you fix the old unit, who knows how long it will last?

In Texas we have something called the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. If someone defrauds the other party in a transaction, the grieved party can sue and ask for treble damages. In other words, they can ask for 3 times the amount they were defrauded out of.

If your state has something like that, maybe you can use that as a hammer to make the seller pay more, or even all, of the new A/C.

Good luck!

Only on the org... great legal advice! Really, that was good advice.

Thank you everybody!

I spoke to a lawyer today and he said that since our contract stated we would use mediation that I would have to go that route first. He said that if the seller could produce a receipt that they had repaired the unit, it would then fall on me to pay for the replacement cost any way, and since the seller's contractor has aleady changed his story, then it's possible they might suddenly find a receipt that shows work was done. I did tell him in that case it would fall under my home warranty, but since it hadn't worked when I first turned it on, the home warranty company stated they would need something from the seller showing it had been repaired.

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So, last night I was angry and I wrote an email to the seller (and cc'd my agent). I told him that I did not appreciate the implication that both my agent and I were lying about the contractor having stated he did not look at the AC. I stated that any licensed HVAC contractor would change the filter in the AC unit first thing, and that I have a rotten filter that was removed from the unit by the AC contractor I had look at it when it wouldn't come on the first time I turned it on. I had a witness to the seller's contractor stating he'd never worked on the unit, and the receipt he had given me does not state anything about AC repair, that as far as I was concerned he was in breach of contract. I told him that here is what I wanted: he would put $1600 towards the new unit, and I would be responsible for $500 and that I would make payments on that $500 (as I've had to go out and spend $500 on two AC window units in an attempt to make living in 100+ temperatures bearable) and that if he could not agree to these terms, I would continue on to mediation and that I would also notify 7 On Your Side news and let them report on this. I received a call this evening telling me that he has agree to those terms. So, I'm getting a new unit installed this Friday and I'll pay $500 on it. I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but he knows he didn't have the AC repaired before I moved in. As my agent said, if he'd truly had it repaired then he could have had the contractor write a statement that the unit was working adequately after he repaired it and I could have turned that in to my home warranty and it would have been covered. Instead he turned it into a drama and I just had to put my foot down and say, "This is what I expect..."

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But I appreciate everyone's advice! I've never owned a home before, never thought I ever would, grew up in foser homes and group homes and moved around a lot, also had a lot of medical problems when I was young, so close to a million dollars in medical bills through the years, but I've worked hard these last few years to repair my credit and am now a home owner! I still love my house, just didn't like the seller doing what he did with the AC. And I know we have a lot of smart people on the org, and you all wouldn't steer me wrong. Well, most of you wouldn't.

good for you!