Liability of Seller for Mold in Home

[ecread]

Hello,
We recently purchased a house that is 19 years old, and have been occupying the house for about 3 weeks. We inspected the house prior to purchase with a certified home inspector. The seller's disclosure did not indicate their knowledge of mold or water in basement. However, within 24 hours of moving in, we discovered a very small spot of mold above the baseboard on the drywall in the finished basement. The mold is black, and a one to two inch water stain was visible just above it. It happens to be located adjacent to a built-in drywall box (floor to ceiling) around the kitchen sink drain pipe, and is on the outside wall of the basement. We can't tell if it is from a foundation leak or the pipe. We pulled back the carpet and dried it once (only a couple of inches were wet), but it returned shortly thereafter.

We would like to identify the source of the moisture and solve the problem, but are frustrated that this was not disclosed and/or identified by the home inspector.

Do we have any reasonable recourse other than filing a lawsuit and trying to prove the seller's knew about it? The home inspector's limit of liability was for the price of the inspection only.

Thanks!

[Mr. Knowitall]

Even with a lawsuit you may not be able to prove that the seller knew about the mold.

You should consider consulting a lawyer in your state as, even if the inspector's contract limits his liability to the cost of the inspection, there may be ways around that provision.

A lot of inspectors have quiet deals with the real estate agents who recommend them, that they won't make any findings which will cause a buyer to walk away from a possible home purchase. If your inspector was recommended by your real estate agent, you may wish to discuss with your lawyer the possibility that they had such a deal, and whether it would open the door to additional remedies.

[ecread]

Thanks for the reply - we avoided the inspector recommended by the agent for that very reason. Having not notified the inspector about this finding right away, it is probably too late for me to take any action on that.

We have just had significant rain and identified a slight grade issue/low spot next to the house that is likely where water is accumulating against the foundation during big storms. We will correct that grading issue and see if we can eliminate the moisture. No moisture hopefully means no mold!