Sellers, don't fret over repairs

DEAR BERNICE: My husband used to work in the construction industry before he earned his college degree. He's pretty handy and can fix most things around the house. We recently listed our house and received an offer. When the buyers did their physical inspection they came back with a laundry list of things for us to fix. My husband can handle most of the work, but our Realtor was really against it.

She recommended giving the buyers a credit and letting them do the work. She also recommended that we pay for a home warranty for the buyers. My husband isn't thrilled about her ideas. What do you recommend? --Cathy Y.

DEAR CATHY: It's your house and your decision about how you handle this. However, I'm inclined to agree with your agent on both accounts. A number of years ago I had an attorney client who purchased a home. The roof was leaking and needed repair. The seller provided us with receipts stating that the roof had been repaired, and we closed the transaction.

About four months later, when we had the first rains of the season, the roof leaked right on top of the attorney's newborn baby. She hired a roofer who inspected the property. It turns out that whoever had done the repairs had just splashed some tar on top of the roof instead of removing and replacing the damaged shingles and repairing the water damage. The attorney had to fix the roof in order to prevent further damage. Needless to say, she was extremely angry and decided to sue the seller for damages.

The seller argued that he had hired a roofer (his brother-in-law) in good faith and had paid for the repairs. The seller was trying to pass off the responsibility because the roofer was the one who did the poor job.

What's interesting about this case is how the judge made the ruling. The judge ruled that the seller owed the buyer for the damages she incurred, for the roof repairs (based upon the seller's representation that the roof was free of leaks at the time of closing) and for court costs. The judge did not require the roofer to pay for any of the damages.

Instead, the judge told the seller he had a separate cause of action against the roofer. In other words, the seller would have to sue the roofer for the damages he incurred. ...CONTINUED

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